DoC senior advisor and dog handler, James Fraser, with Rock, a certified kiwi dog under DoC’s Conservation Dogs Programme.
DoC senior advisor and dog handler, James Fraser, with Rock, a certified kiwi dog under DoC’s Conservation Dogs Programme.
Relocating kiwi around the North Island takes a lot of time and manpower.
Since 2023, Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, in conjunction with Save the Kiwi, DoC, mana whenua, certified kiwi dogs, and numerous volunteers, have spent from early February to the end of April finding and relocating kiwi from Sanctuary Mountainto other suitable habitats around New Zealand.
In 2017, Sanctuary Mountain carried out a kiwi intensification programme with Save the Kiwi to become a source site for North Island brown kiwi under their Kōhanga Kiwi strategy.
“Over five years, we collected kiwi eggs from the wild and hatched them before releasing the young chicks into the protected environment of Sanctuary Mountain,” Save the Kiwi chief executive Michelle Impey said.
“Over 300 kiwi were released over five years to increase the kiwi population to a level where we could start relocating.”
Kiwi are loaded into vans to be transported to their new forever homes.
“In 2023, we started relocating some Sanctuary Mountain kiwi to other predator-controlled habitats.
“This was a massive undertaking for everyone involved,” Sanctuary Mountain chief executive Helen Hughes said.
Working with DoC, relocation work starts in February and early in the morning.
Certified kiwi dogs and their handlers go out into the main enclosure to search for kiwi.
Volunteers are positioned throughout the mountain to take the kiwi back to base for their health check.
Senior advisor and dog handler, James Fraser, mentors other DoC Conservation Dogs Programme handlers and administers the assessments of the 40 trained conservation dogs, 25 of which are currently certified to detect kiwi.
“Most dogs could be trained, but traditional indicator dogs such as pointers, setters and vizlas are more common,” Fraser said.
“Training takes 18 months to two years using surrogate training species initially, such as homing pigeons and quail, before moving on to taonga species.
“CDP dogs must have a safe indication and are muzzled while working.”
The dogs indicate the presence of a kiwi or a burrow close by, and the handler extricates the bird.
Microchipped kiwi from the original source population are released after a health check and are not part of the relocation programme.
The caught kiwi are fitted with a temporary locator and taken to the Kiirehe Health Centre at Pukeatua School, where they have a health check from either Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari’s own staff vet or a qualified, licensed kiwi practitioner from Save the Kiwi.
The first 30 kiwi caught each season have bloods taken and the results are taken as representative of the population as a whole.
All kiwi caught are checked for general health and weighed, as only birds above 1200g to 1500g are relocated.
Preparation for a long journey
Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari ranger Caitlin Stoyal-Wiggens locating kiwi with transmitters on their legs.
“Caught kiwi are released into our smaller southern enclosure until there are sufficient to warrant a journey,” Hughes said.
Transport days must be dry, as the kiwi could be spending several hours in a box on the road, and they need to be warm and dry.
“We find the kiwi in the southern enclosure using the locators attached to their legs and catch them on relocation day.
“This happens early in the day when they have full stomachs from a night’s hunting,” Impey said.
After a final health check, the locator tags are removed, and the kiwi are settled into wooden boxes lined with familiar-smelling leaf litter and ferns from the mountain to keep them calm.
Local iwi Ngāti Koroki Kahukura has an ancestral connection with Maungatautari going back over 800 years.
Sanctuary Mountain cultural advocate and educator, and iwi representative, Bodie Tihoi Taylor, said that Māori saw the work being carried out on their precious maunga as in line with their values.
“When you have too much of something, you share it; when you have too little, you have to restrict it so it can regenerate again.”
Traditionally, when tribal members left to marry into another tribe, they were sent off with a karakia.
He now does the same when a batch of kiwi leaves the maunga.
“I call upon the elements, earth, wind, fire and rain to play their part in the safety of the kiwi and the drivers.
“It’s an acknowledgement of the journey and its significance.”
Hughes said Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari was delighted to report that over 232 kiwi were relocated in 2025, topping the 111 in 2023 and 222 in 2024.
Finding sponsors and funding in the conservation space is very challenging, despite the sanctuary running an incredibly lean operation.
Hughes has realistic plans for transitioning the sanctuary into a self-funding business if they can maintain external financial support through that process.
