KEEPING KIWI SAFE

I can't remember a time when I wasn't obsessed with nature and hunting, and I have been lucky enough to combine my two loves in my mahi as a predator hunter.

My job, and my passion outside of regular hunting, is to do my bit in the fight to protect our vulnerable taonga species from the variety of introduced predators that they have little or no defence against. This work takes me all over the country and I am privileged to work alongside people who are similarly committed. Some of these folk are hunters like myself.

I still can't tell you what it is about them, but my first real kiwi experience was an eye opener and it changed me in ways that I can't define. They are a very special bird. To sit in camp at night and listen to them calling is one of New Zealand's truly great outdoor experiences. To see one as it goes about its business, even more so. For kiwi, the greatest threat is that of mustelids. Stoats are death on four legs for young kiwi up to about 1200 grams in weight. Kiwi chick survival in country that receives no stoat control can sit as low The most valuable birds in a population are the breeding adults, and ferrets can take any sized bird. Once they realise kiwi are on the menu, a ferret can be single minded in their desire and ability to find and kill kiwi over large areas. A single ferret can go off like a bomb in a kiwi population. I have witnessed the devastation that one ferret can cause in a short space of time.