Kiwi eggs orphaned after a Waverley dog attacked the adult have been rescued by DOC staff.

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

DOC staff said one of the eggs was found to be infertile and the other was rushed to the Kiwi Encounter at Rainbow Springs in Rotorua in the hope that it will hatch successfully and be released into the wild.

It’s estimated the egg is about 60 days old and should hatch in a further 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 kiwi male’s chest was crushed easily by the dog. If the dog has killed this kiwi it’s probably killed others in the area too, 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.”

“They are very fragile and tipping them the wrong way can kill the developing chick. It’s much better to leave them in the nest and wait for us to get there. The eggs can survive for about 12 hours without incubation.”