The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Kiwi numbers get a boost with Hawke's Bay Breeding Programme

By Laura Wiltshire
NZ Herald·
20 Aug, 2018 06:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Chairman of the trust Simon Hall cradles a kiwi before it is released. Photo / Supplied

Chairman of the trust Simon Hall cradles a kiwi before it is released. Photo / Supplied

A Hawke's Bay organisation is on a mission to rebuild kiwi numbers.

The Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust runs a breeding programme, where it lifts eggs from Maungataniwha Native Forest and rears the hatchlings until they are big enough to be released into the wild.

This year, 44 of the 59 Eastern North Island Brown Kiwi eggs lifted for Maungataniwha have hatched, meaning 44 birds are currently being reared for release.

This is a drastic difference to eggs left in the wild, which have a survival rate of only 5 per cent.

Spokesman for the Trust Peter Heath said it was a good result.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It's a good year," he said. "Some years are up, some years are down, this one is sitting, sort of, right in the middle."

Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust conservation specialist Tamsin Ward-Smith said each stage to the chicks' life cycle was micro-managed.

"We certainly haven't got to the conveyor belt production of chicks yet and so each one is still micro-managed at every stage from egg to release.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It truly is a privilege to send a healthy juvenile back into the wild. Getting them to that stage is a result of many people each doing their part."

The chicks are incubated at Kiwi Encounter in Rotorua, and then reared at Cape Sanctuary, near Napier.

The programme has been running for over a decade, and has been going from strength to strength.

In June, 2017, the trust released a special kiwi named Kevin into the forest.

Discover more

New forest home hopes to see kiwi flourish in Hawke's Bay

03 Mar 11:54 PM

Population modelling suggested 200 Kiwi were needed to make the population viable for 30 years, and Kevin was the 200th kiwi released into Maungataniwha.

However, despite the population being theoretically sustainable, Heath said the programme needed to continue.

"Just because the population is sustainable isn't to say we should stop lifting eggs - the birds are still endangered."

Most kiwi would be released over summer, although some may be released as early as November.

Only some of the chicks are released back to Maungataniwha, with others going to Cape Sanctuary, Otanewainuku, the Whirinaki, the Kaweka Ranges and into captive breeding programmes.

There are five species of kiwi in New Zealand, brown kiwi, great spotted kiwi/roroa, little spotted kiwi, rowi, tokoeka.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Brown kiwi has four genetically distinct forms, including the Eastern North Island Brown Kiwi, which is endemic to Hawke's Bay.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

'Lunacy': Farmers fight cuts to Taranaki agriculture courses

The Country

Rural community 'in shock' as industrial park greenlit

Premium
The Country

More than half of Crown Regional Holdings' loan book flagged as 'at risk'


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

'Lunacy': Farmers fight cuts to Taranaki agriculture courses
The Country

'Lunacy': Farmers fight cuts to Taranaki agriculture courses

WITT plans to scrap agriculture courses, worrying the Taranaki farming community.

16 Jul 10:23 PM
Rural community 'in shock' as industrial park greenlit
The Country

Rural community 'in shock' as industrial park greenlit

16 Jul 09:04 PM
Premium
Premium
More than half of Crown Regional Holdings' loan book flagged as 'at risk'
The Country

More than half of Crown Regional Holdings' loan book flagged as 'at risk'

16 Jul 08:54 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP