Hope for hatching kiwi egg after dog kills parent

Kiwi eggs orphaned after a Waverley dog attacked and killed an adult kiwi have been rescued by Department of Conservation (DoC) staff.

The dog's owners rang DoC to say his dog had killed a kiwi and he had removed two eggs from the nest.

DoC said one of the eggs was found to be infertile and the other was rushed to the Kiwi Encounter at Rainbow Springs in Rotorua.

It was estimated the egg was 60 days old and should hatch in about 20 days.

Biodiversity programme manager Jim Campbell said the incident highlighted the danger posed by dogs.

"Even though we may get a chick out of this tragedy, the kiwi population suffers huge damage by losing a breeding adult. We don't know if the chick will survive long enough to breed."

While adult kiwi can survive stoat attacks, they are never dog-proof. Kiwi have no sternum and in this case the male kiwi's chest was crushed easily by the dog.

Mr Campbell said the dog had probably killed other kiwi in the area, possibly the breeding female.

"We appreciate the dog owner giving us a call and a chance to rescue the eggs but want to advise anyone else in this situation not to remove eggs from the nest," Mr Campbell said.

"They are very fragile and tipping them the wrong way can kill the developing chick ... better to leave them and wait for us to get there."

- NZPA