19 September 2011

First Rowi hatching of the season at West Coast Wildlife Centre

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The West Coast Wildlife Centre’s first kiwi chick of the season, hatched today at 7.42 am.

Health checks by centre staff confirm that the chick is “beautiful, chatty and wiggly”.

“We are caring for seven precious kiwi eggs at the West Coast Wildlife Centre from, critically endangered, rowi and Haast tokoeka,” says Centre Manager Lisa Stevenson.

“The public can see the young chick for themselves at the centre over the next few weeks as part of our Backstage Pass Tour.”

New Zealand’s rarest kiwi species, rowi, is making a solid recovery thanks to a partnership between the Department of Conservation (DOC) and the BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust.

Born as part of BNZ Operation Nest Egg, the chick will be at the West Coast Wildlife Centre until three to four weeks of age. It will then be transferred to Motuara Island, a predator-free kiwi crèche in the Marlborough Sounds. Once it is over 1 kg – large enough to protect itself against stoats – the young kiwi will be returned to join the last natural population of rowi in Ōkārito Kiwi Zone in South Westland.

A 1080 operation in Ōkārito forest, designed to protect rowi chicks in their natural habitat, will allow DOC rangers to leave half of this year’s chicks to hatch in the wild without human intervention for the first time since 1998. Without the use of 1080 or BNZ Operation Nest Egg, 95 % of rowi chicks die before their first birthday.

ENDS

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