Great Spotted Kiwi to Face MP's Tomorrow

Ministers for Conservation and Environment, Chris Carter and David Benson-Pope and other concerned MPs have been invited to talk with a Great Spotted Kiwi from Happy Valley tomorrow (on the West Coast of the South Island) - Tuesday 14th February - at 12.00 noon, outside Parliament. The Kiwi will be asking the MP's why they are so intent on destroying its home with an open-cast coal mine and what the MPs plan to do to protect its habitat.

"Kiwi have been living in this valley for millenia and are absolutely protected under law" said Save Happy Valley Coalition Wellington spokesperson Timothy Bailey.

"State-Owned-Enterprise Solid Energy's open-cast coal mine is the first of many planned for the Waimangaroa Valley, a relatively untouched area of moist upland forest. It hosts one of the few remaining stable populations of Great Spotted Kiwi left in the world" he said.

"By allowing Solid Energy to mine this area, Ministers Carter and Benson-Pope are threatening the very survival of a New Zealand icon. We should be preserving the Kiwi's habitat, not strip-mining it for short term profits" he said.

The Kiwi will be asking MP's questions such as:

"Why are you not doing something to stop the utter destruction of one of few remaining Great Spotted Kiwi refuges?"

and

"Why are you ignoring your responsibilites to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kyoto Protocols on CO2 emissions by allowing this coal mine to proceed?"

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