Kiwi escapes bird-nappers

An adult female kiwi in a wildlife park in Queenstown "fought like hell" and saved herself when confronted by would-be thieves.

The intruders broke into the burrow of Atar, aged about 7 years, in the middle of the night on Sunday at the Kiwi and Birdlife Park in Brecon St.

They climbed over a fence and broke a lock on the gate leading to Atar's enclosure.

The park's owner, Sandra Wilson, feared the worst: "We [were] just beside ourselves. We can't bear to think she might have been stuffed in someone's backpack or something like that."

But at dusk yesterday about four park staff found the frightened kiwi hiding in the park's undergrowth.

"We're absolutely delighted and relieved this has come to a happy ending," Ms Wilson said.

"She had crawled into some undergrowth and, being in the industry, my husband knew to look somewhere deep and dark.

"When they broke in they obviously tried to get her out, but she's very strong, and she fought like hell because there were feathers everywhere."

Atar was a bit stressed but looking "pretty good" despite some feather-loss, Ms Wilson said.

Atar was last night back in the kiwi house enclosure with her mate, who had been calling for her throughout yesterday. She was being monitored closely and would visit the vet for a check-up today.

Ms Wilson said it was still important to catch the intruders.

"We put our heart and soul into saving [kiwis], and to have some idiots breaking in and doing this sort of thing is unacceptable."

The park's two other kiwi appeared undisturbed. A gate on the tuatara enclosure was also tampered with, but none of the reptiles was missing.

Ms Wilson said it was the first time someone had tried to steal a kiwi from the park.

Constable Tracy Haggart, of Queenstown, said some fingerprinting was done at the park but there were few leads.

"[The thieves] haven't broken into the main building with the shop, just outbuildings and the kiwi enclosure."

Department of Conservation wildlife enforcement group head Peter Younger said the intruders might have objected to a wild bird being kept in confinement."Someone might also have done it for a very bad joke."

He said that a few months ago his team investigated the advertisement of a live kiwi on internet site TradeMe. The auction turned out to be a hoax.

Kiwi were an "absolutely protected" species under the Wildlife Act, he said.

Anyone found to be unlawfully in possession of the bird faced a maximum penalty of six months' jail or a $100,000 fine or both.

Offenders could also be charged with burglary and receiving stolen goods.