By ROSALEEN MACBRAYNE
The big outdoors beckons for Honey, the hand-reared kiwi chick attacked by a stoat two weeks after she was released into the Kaweka Ranges.
The 5-month-old has been nursed back to health at Rainbow Springs in Rotorua over the past month and is now ready to go into a
spacious outdoor run.
Her neck wound has almost healed, she has gained weight and her feathers should soon grow back, says Kiwi House staff member Carole Harvey.
The keepers will maintain a careful watch on Honey and it is likely to be a further six weeks before she is returned to the wild.
"She was half dead when we got her back, and it has been a long road to recovery," says Ms Harvey. "But it's incredible how well she has healed."
Staff are nervous about Honey's future when she goes back to the central North Island ranges.
Honey is a product of Operation Nest Egg, the Department of Conservation's kiwi preservation programme.
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