A conservation group has called on the Government to put more money into protecting kiwis before they disappear in most parts of New Zealand.
The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society said kiwi populations were in crisis, and predicted that within 15 years kiwi would be wiped out in all but
a small number of sanctuaries.
"Eighty years ago there were five million kiwi in New Zealand," said Forest and Bird's conservation manager, Eric Pyle. "Today there are 50,000 to 60,000."
He said the decline of the kiwi was caused by stoats and ferrets eating young birds.
"Over 95 per cent of kiwi chicks, outside heavily managed areas, are killed after hatching or in their first year."
Mr Pyle said that although safe havens worked, in less than five years it would be too late to save most of the remaining kiwi.
He advocated more use of 1080 poisoning because research was showing that aerial 1080 applications could greatly increase the survival of kiwi chicks.
"What is needed is a greater funding commitment from the Government to save our national icon," said Mr Pyle. "The increase in funding is needed urgently. In a few years it will be too late."
Conservation Minister Sandra Lee said the Budget had provided more money for kiwi sanctuaries.
"Outside the sanctuaries, kiwi are obviously in trouble," she said. "But the sanctuaries ensure the survival of populations of the most at-risk kiwi species.
"Intensive work is also under way on stoat control research to find new and more effective ways of controlling stoats."
Ms Lee said that until stoats could be controlled, kiwis and other bird species at even greater risk than the national icon would be "under serious threat".
- NZPA
nzherald.co.nz/environment
