Even friendly, usually gentle family dogs are not exempt – uncontrolled they are just as great a threat to kiwi as hunting and farm dogs.
Even dogs especially trained and certified to help kiwi workers have to wear muzzles – as a precaution, just in case.
Likewise, wild or abandoned cats are a big threat to kiwi, especially young chicks. Along with stoats, cats account for the deaths of 70% of wild-born chicks before they reach six months of age.
BNZ Save the Kiwi is encouraging all dog owners, especially hunters, to take their animals along to kiwi avoidance training. It’s not a silver bullet, but if dogs need to be in places where wild kiwi live, it does help them learn to avoid the birds.
Other things dog owners can do are:
Give your dog a roomy pen or kennel where it can be happy, and make your property escape-proof.
Only exercise your dog in areas put aside for that purpose.
If you live near a place where wild kiwi live, or are visiting, keep your dog on a lead at all times – a kiwi can be caught and killed in seconds.
If you are hunting in areas where wild kiwi live, put tracking collars on your dogs so you know where they are and can take them home at the end of the hunt.
Keep your dog tied up or inside at night – free-roaming dogs are a menace to kiwi.
Keep your dog away from kiwi areas during the breeding season – June to March.
Never abandon unwanted dogs (or cats) – it is cruel to them and cruel to kiwi. Either give them to the SPCA or ask a vet to put them down humanely.
Things that cat owners can do are:
Keep cats inside at night if you live in a kiwi zone. Your pet may look like it sleeps all the time, but cats wearing radio transmitters have been shown to roam up to 20 kilometres from home.
Keep your cat well-fed and have moving toys for it to play with so it is less inclined to chase birds.
Have your cat neutered or spayed so it can’t produce unwanted kittens.
In 1800, millions of kiwi lived in forests, scrub and sand dunes. Today, only about 70,000 kiwi are left in all of New Zealand, and the place we’re most likely to see them is a zoo or bird sanctuary.
