Stoat blamed for kiwi slaughter

A stoat is believed to be responsible for the slaughter of 11 kiwi at a "kiwi creche" near Cambridge.

The dead chicks were discovered during a routine visit by Conservation Department staff to the privately-owned Warrenheip native forest reserve on Tuesday.

A dead stoat was later found in a trap.

The 16-hectare Warrenheip reserve is ringed by a pest-proof fence and owned by Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust.

Trust chairman David Wallace told The Waikato Times "huge dumps of rain" last month washed away soil under part of the pest-proof fence, and it was believed the stoat had crept under the fence into the reserve in the few hours before it was repaired.

The dead birds and the stoat have been sent Massey University to establish whether the stoat was to blame.

- NZPA