Shocking lesson for kiwi-hunting dogs

Dogs who like to hunt and harass the flightless kiwi bird are in for the shock of their lives.

Northland dog owners tomorrow will take more than 50 of the region's canines to the Waiotama Forest, halfway between Whangarei and Dargaville, where they will be shocked into steering clear of kiwi.

"Dead kiwis from the area will be put along a track and, when the dog touches or sniffs them, they will get an electric shock," Carter Holt Harvey Forests environmental planner Ursula Albrecht said.

The training will carry on for a year. The theory was, if the dogs learned to avoid dead kiwi, they would also steer clear of live kiwi, Ms Albrecht said.

"It doesn't make the dog kiwi-proof but it gives the kiwis a fighting chance," she said.

The training -- which has been used on Coromandel Peninsula in recent years -- was being carried out by Adele Smaill from the Department of Conservation and BNZ Kiwi recovery programme while the organisers were the Northland Recreational Pig Hunters Group.

Tomorrow's training day is fully booked but more will follow, with organisers yet to set the dates.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)

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