KEY POINTS:
Landowners, conservationists and groups trying to help kiwi in their struggle to survive on the mainland now have a new tool to boost numbers.
It's a professionally produced, 75-minute DVD aimed especially at landowners and other groups working with kiwi to ensure the endangered national birds remain and thrive.
How to Save Kiwi outlines the struggle facing the birds at a time when mainland development threatens their habitat and predators and pests kill 95 per cent of chicks.
The DVD has just had its premiere showing at The Centre in Kerikeri, a town considered to be at the centre of kiwi country.
It has been produced by BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust in association with the New Zealand Kiwi Foundation and the Department of Conservation.
Dr Greg Blunden of the Kiwi Foundation says although the DVD is specifically designed to help people working with kiwi, it is also of general interest.
"Our national bird is fighting for its survival in the wild and losing," he says. People's help could change that.
The DVD's eight chapters include sections on predator control and monitoring, managing cats and dogs in kiwi country, how kiwi are counted by monitoring their calls, and what landowners can do to protect their habitat. It also shows how kiwi protection projects can be started in local communities.
Anyone wanting the DVD should contact the trust at www.savethekiwi.org.nz or Dr Blunden on 021-710-441.
- NZPA
