By Jemima Huston of RNZ
A kiwi conservation group is giving kudos to Mitre 10 for quickly taking a kiwi-shaped dog toy off its shelves.
The stuffed, grey toy - wearing a festive Santa hat - has caused outrage this week with kiwi advocates and members of the public asking Mitre 10 to remove it.
As of Thursday the dog toy is no longer available on the hardware store’s website.
Save the Kiwi chief executive Michelle Limpey said selling a kiwi-shaped dog toy is a bad look.
“We’re really fighting hard to keep kiwi safe from a number of pests and predators out there and one of which can be a roaming dog or a feral dog. So to promote that it’s okay for a dog to have a kiwi in its mouth isn’t the right message we want to be sending to dog owners”.
Limpey was pleased Mitre 10 acted promptly to remove the product even though it did not strongly resemble a real-life kiwi.
“We’re under no disillusion that by a dog chewing this it’s going to train it to attack kiwi in the wild. It’s not that. It’s the optics of it”.
She said there were millions of shapes to choose from for a dog toy.
“We’d just prefer it wasn’t a threatened species that we’re working hard to protect from that very animal”.
Several kiwi have been killed in dog attacks in recent months.
In August at least eight were killed in Ōpua Forest in the Bay of Islands. Dogs have also killed several kiwi in other areas like Whakatāne and Taranaki.
According to Save the Kiwi, a kiwi can live up to 50 or 60 years but in Northland their life expectancy is just 14 years, which was largely due to the impact of dogs.
Limpey has asked people travelling with their dogs over the holiday season to be considerate of kiwi.
“Do your research. If you’re going somewhere where there may be kiwi or other threatened wildlife, do what you can to prepare. Respect the rules of where you’re going if there’s a no-dog zone or a dog-on-lead rule. We can have both happy dogs that are safe and kiwis that are safe from dogs if everyone does their bit.”
Limpey said dogs are incredible hunters and often see kiwi as a toy or a game.
“Kiwi have a strong smell so it’s quite attractive for a dog. It’s not necessarily they’re hunting kiwi to eat them, it’s a game. Often what we’ll find is a dog might get a taste for kiwi, and it will rip through an entire population.”
RNZ has contacted Mitre 10 for comment.
The 36-year-old died on December 19.