Kiwis to be released on Mt Bruce

Mt Bruce in Wairarapa is set to resound to the call of the kiwi, with the announcement that 20 of the birds will be released into the wild this year.

Masterton Mayor Bob Francis said the release would make Mt Bruce the only accessible place on the New Zealand mainland where people would be able to hear the call of the kiwi in the wild. Ten kokako would also be released.

National Wildlife Centre spokesman Geoff Matthews said kiwi had probably been extinct in Wairarapa since the 1960s, and it was 50 years since kokako lived there.