Peter Cullinane: Saving kiwi a matter of pride

Stewart Island brown kiwi. Photo / Venture Southland

I remember seeing a kiwi in the wild for the first time. It struck me as looking a little like a feathered rugby ball with sturdy legs and a long beak! But what really struck me was that the kiwi oozed attitude! Feistiness personified. Actually, there is nothing more Kiwi than our kiwis.

Kiwis are such a part of our identity that it is nigh on impossible to imagine New Zealand without them. But here's the thing. We are losing kiwis at an increasingly faster rate and will see their extinction if we don't do something about it. I know it seems unimaginable but that is the very reason why more is not being done.

We can't believe its true but it is. If we lose the kiwi it would be a blow of epic proportion to our sense of nationality and our status as being a country that is rightly proud of our environment.

Imagine what it would look like if kiwi were wiped from our existence? The kiwi is such a powerful and universal symbol for New Zealanders and New Zealand. While recognised on the global stage as the signature of New Zealand and all that it stands for, the kiwi is a part of every person who calls themselves a New Zealander.

Future generations of New Zealanders and indeed the world would be staggered at our incompetence.

While we're busy debating whether the Southern Cross or the silver fern should be on our new flag, we should also be giving serious thought to what New Zealand would be like without the kiwi. Because that is the reality we face if we don't make a concerted effort now to halt the decline of our national icon.

But the good news is that a ground breaking report commissioned by Kiwi for kiwi and released this week shows that the substantial efforts made to date by Government, Iwi and community led projects are working. Saving kiwi from extinction is within our grasp. We just need to do more of it and soon.

The Government committed $11.2 million in this year's budget to saving our national symbol. That's a help but it is not nearly enough to do what needs to be done if we are to reverse the decline in the kiwi population. The only way we're going to save our kiwi is if all of us do our bit.

Kiwi eggs and chicks need our help. Kiwi's natural habitat is also home to their most voracious predators - the stoat, ferret, feral cat and rats.

More than 95 per cent of kiwi chicks born in areas without predator control are killed before they reach breeding age. But well over half survive in areas where predators are controlled.

Over 100 years ago millions of kiwi roamed the country without the threat of predators. Now the latest estimate shows only around 67,500 kiwi remain with up to 27 kiwi being killed every week. The most recent funding from Government will be funnelled into increasing predator control and monitoring and widening the reach of the Operation Nest Egg programme which raises vulnerable kiwi eggs and young chicks until they can be safely returned to the wild without risk of predation.

There are over 90 community projects led by people passionate about saving kiwi, from Stewart Island to Kaitaia and it is these people who are making the difference. Hundreds of volunteers work hands-on, building predator-proof fencing, setting and clearing traps, managing local Operation Nest Egg programmes, running dog avoidance training programmes, researching and monitoring.

While we may not all be able to dedicate our days to saving kiwi and turn large tracts of land into kiwi conservation areas, we can all do our bit. As Kiwis we are all about getting stuck in, standing together and finding a way.

Gone are the huia and the moa. Are we going to let kiwi go the same way?

You cannot put a price on saving a national icon, a symbol of our uniqueness, our namesake and a beautiful, enigmatic bird. It's a matter of national pride.

Peter Cullinane is a trustee on the Kiwi Trust Board, co-founder of Assignment Group and founder of Lewis Road Creamery.