Kiwi in the Back Yard
At the mid-March Landcare Networking Day on Stewart Island we saw photos from an Oban resident of a kiwi standing on their lawn, followed by another of one having a snooze in the sunshine on the lawn, within metres of their deck. How cool is that?! Full credit to the SIRCET group who have been working on pest control and conservation advocacy around the Oban area since 2003 which have enabled such outcomes as this. Their main focus to begin with was the removal of pests from Ackers Point, however this has extended further towards the Oban village. Kiwis have been reintroduced in to the area and are known to be breeding. A major problem for the kiwi is capture by dogs and the SIRCET group offer Oban residents the chance to train their dogs to be well behaved through a kiwi aversion course offered twice yearly. In 2010 SERN held a Bringing Back the Birds conference on Stewart Island. It is wonderful to hear of the great work by groups like SIRCET who are indeed achieving this goal.
Posted on: Tuesday, 29 March 2016
