In October of this year (2020), a dead Kiwi was discovered at the end of a driveway by an owner of a property on Kapowai Road. The obvious injuries showed the bird had been savaged by a dog some time during the night.
It was particularly upsetting to find the dead bird at the starting point of one of a number of traplines serviced by the Kapowai Kiwi Group (KKG).
Dogs are a significant threat to Kiwi, and there is a need to raise public awareness about the damage that roaming dogs can and are doing. Kiwi are particularly vulnerable to roaming dogs as they have a very strong scent, making it easy locate them. The result we received back from Landcare who completed DNA profiling on saliva extracted from the Kiwi found on Kapowai Road was as follows:.
“Positive for a dog, and there is enough evidence to identify an individual dog should this become necessary.”
It is very difficult to quantify the number of Kiwi that are killed or injured by dogs, as most events probably occur in the bush and are never dis-covered. We were fortunate that this Kiwi had been brought out of the bush by the dog, giving us all the opportunity to be reminded of the importance of keeping dogs under control, and to consider avian aversion training to help prevent such losses.
