Mercy dash saves kiwi after scrubcutter encounter near Whangarei

The vet sutures the injured kiwi's wounds.

Quick action by a man clearing a fence line and the Whangarei Bird Recovery Centre saved the life of a kiwi slashed by a scrubcutter blade.

The mature female kiwi hiding in scrub was slashed from side to side before the man clearing the fence line at Purua knew the bird was there.

Once he realised what was moving in the long grass he managed to catch it, called ahead about the emergency and made a 29km mercy dash to the recovery centre.

Centre manager Robert Webb said the bird would not have survived without the man's speedy action.

The circular blade slashed the kiwi on both sides of its body, just below the small, claw-like, unformed "wings".

There was only ''some hope'' at the time that the bird would survive, Webb said.

He and a vet cleaned the wounds and the vet sewed up the gashes — putting in 30 stitches.

''It looked like someone had had a sewing lesson on it,'' Webb said.

But flightless kiwi are tough birds.

The accident happened three weeks ago, and after less than two weeks in recovery the kiwi was fit enough to be returned home.

Before the 6-or 7-year-old bird was set free, it was microchipped and the Department of Conservation attached a transmitter to it.

A ranger has already picked up the signal and checked that all is well with the bird.

It was the second time in as many weeks the award-winning Bird Recovery Centre demonstrated its kiwi rescue, recovery and egg incubation work after one of its chicks was recently released on ''kiwi creche'' Limestone Matakohe Island in Whangarei Harbour.

Kiwi chicks live on the predator-free island until they are big enough to fend for themselves in the wild, and are then released on the mainland near where their egg came from.

Since Robert and Robyn Webb opened the bird recovery centre in 1992, many thousands of Northland school children have been introduced at close quarters to living kiwi - first one-legged Snoopy and, after that bird's death in 2007, another one-legged kiwi called Sparky.

Snoopy and Sparky lost legs after they were caught in gin traps laid on the ground to catch possums.

Meanwhile, the bird centre is very busy as its peak season rolls out. On average, about 500 baby birds, several native species among them, are seen by the centre between early November until late February.

''They have wings forming and little tails but they get a bit over confident and jump too soon, or their parents tip them out. We hand feed them until they're ready to go,'' Robert Webb said.

''We've already had so many baby blackbirds, thrushes, you name it, they've been brought in. The cute little fluffball baby moreporks will start coming in soon.''

Later, ''berry drunk'' kukupa, or kereru, will feature among the season's intake.

Some of the heavy, low-lying birds will be hit by vehicles or knocked out after slamming into windows, and some simply fall out of their tree after feasting on fermenting fruit.