By ALISON BROWN in Rotorua
Helping save New Zealand's national icon has become a major tourist attraction at Rotorua's Rainbow Springs.
After a low key launch in April, Kiwi Encounter was officially opened by Minister of Tourism Mark Burton yesterday.
Already more than 7000 people have visited
the attraction which gives people a chance to view North Island brown kiwi up close.
Visitors are taken on a 45-minute guided tour. Visitors view a working hatchery and nursery before being taken into a nocturnal house where mature kiwi forage for food in a natural environment.
The facility is an extension of Rainbow Springs' Operation Nest Egg programme which began in 1995. Kiwi eggs taken from the wild by Department of Conservation staff are incubated at Rainbow Springs. After they hatch, staff regularly weigh and feed the chicks, preparing them for release into the wild.
Over the past three years more than 170 chicks have been raised at Rainbow Springs. Before being released, they spend a short time learning to fend for themselves in predator-free environments around the country.
Seventy-five percent of all kiwi hatched, raised and released from Rainbow Springs survive for more than a year, compared to less than 5 percent of young chicks hatched in the wild.
