Get behind fight to save kiwi

Turbo, one of the fastest hatching kiwi chicks at Pukaha Mt Bruce. PHOTO/Helen Tickner.

THE wonderful photos published last Saturday of little kiwi chick Turbo making his way into the world at Pukaha Mt Bruce was heart-warming indeed but prompted me to reflect on the status of our national icon per se.

The picture is not a pretty one despite the best efforts of conservationists, particularly those at Pukaha.

According to reports last year of the five recognised species of kiwi, two are classified as "vulnerable" and one as being "critically endangered".

Kiwi populations were devastated when widespread felling of bush occurred throughout our country and, although many areas are now protected by covenant it's a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

The nub of the kiwi's struggle to survive though has shifted to predation and we humans are responsible for that also.

How can a flightless bird cope with woodlands infested with rats, stoats, ferrets, weasels and feral cats you might rightfully ask.

That's not to say the battle to preserve kiwi in the wild should not continue to be fought but I fear in the future the only hope of seeing, and being able to share our fair land with kiwi will be to do so in sanctuaries or zoos.

That, of course, would be a huge shame as there is no real substitute for hearing the call of the wild but the alternative is completely unacceptable - the extinction of kiwi.

DNA tests have shown kiwi are more closely related to the Madagascan elephant bird than it is to moa with which at one time it shared New Zealand.

What is alarming is that moa and the elephant bird are already extinct and nobody in their right mind would want to allow the kiwi to make up the trifecta.

Apart from losing the wonderful birds themselves, extinction would impact severely on our nationhood.

The kiwi is our national emblem, it unites us worldwide, to the extent we as humans are now known as Kiwis, and it is our trading brand.

Imagine being represented on the world stage and sports fields by the ghost of a bird that once existed.

It just doesn't cut the mustard.

What it all adds up to is that everyone has to get behind the fight to save the kiwi, and to wipe out pests that threaten it.