Little saw Kiwi to return to Nelson after almost 100 years

Little Spoted Kiwi, also known as Kiwi Pukupuku, will be released at the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary in May.
Photo: Provided: Zealand

Twenty years after Brook Waimārama’s sanctuary was established in Nelson, he must become the home of a kind of kiwi that was long considered extinguished on the southern island.

Approximately 40 small kiwi, or Kiwi Pukupuku, are being translocated to the Kapiti Island Sanctuary in early May.

Sanctuary ecologist Robert Schadewinkel said the vision of the original founders, including the late environmentalist Dr. Dave Butler, to see Kiwi’s return to Nelson was possible due to thousands of hours of volunteers and employees.

Brook Waimārama’s sanctuary ecologist Robert Schadewinkel.
Photo: Provided

“They had this vision 20 years ago to build the fence and then reintroduce it and see it finally happens is significant, for all the people who have been here for so long and working toward her.”

The project is a partnership between the Sanctuary and Te Rūnanga Oa Rangatira, Te Tauhu Iwi, Save the Kiwi and the Conservation Department.

About 100 years ago, the last free roaming Kiwi were found on the south island and later five individuals were translocated to Kapiti Island.

Brook Waimārama’s sanctuary is the largest sanctuary of wildlife surrounded on the south island, with almost 700 hectares.
Photo: RNZ / SAMANTHA GEE

“All the kiwi we have now are the descendants of those five kiwi who have been saved and then brought to Kapiti Island, so seeing them returning to South Island is now a milestone, as there are no other populations on the continent.”

One team returned earlier this week of a trip to Kapiti Island, where he found, captured and attached radio transmitters to 24 kiwi at the end of the island. Another team would be sent next week to look for another 16 birds before translocation in a month.

It is not the first bird translocation to the sanctuary. From 2021, the orange front parakeet, Kākāriki Karaka, was launched on five occasions with the population of rare forest birds now that it considered itself the largest in the country.

After an absence of 100 years from the region, a 2023 national status report on Kākāriki Karaka noted that the sanctuary population is “tracking well”.
Photo: Sean McGrath

In early 2021, forty Tīke or South Island Saddleback were translocated to Motuara Island, at Marlborough’s sounds, but despite the promising signs and sightings of young shoes, a population had not been established with birds that were thought to have left the sanctuary area.

It also happens after dozens of Tuatara were released at last year’s sanctuary.

Schadewinkel said Kiwi was the perfect bird for translocation in a surrounded sanctuary because they were not out of flight.

The Trust Brook Waimārama Sanctuary was established in 2004, with 690 hectares of ripe bean forest surrounded by a pest -proof fence in 2016.
Photo: Alison Ballance

“This is the beauty with Kiwi, they are little robust and very robust things and when we release them in a predator free area that is surrounded, very little that can go wrong.

“Predation is the number one threat of them, they are hyper-vulnerable to the predation of dogs, stones, tones and cats, anything, because they are thrown into a fully predator-free environment, we can only expect them to prosper.”

He hoped that those who lived near the sanctuary could soon hear the Kiwi calling at night, and over time there were plans to take night tours so that people had a chance to see them.

The Brook Valley has been home to Nelson’s watershed and is now the place of the largest surrounded sanctuary on the south island.
Photo: RNZ / TRACY NEAL

An “important” occasion

Matt Hippolite de Te Rūnanga O Rangatira said that IWI prides itself on the role Kapiti played in bringing the kind of Taonga back to the edge of extinction.

“For you Rūnanga, the ora rangatira, it was an honor to be the Kaitiaki of these Manu, as its population recovers to a point to start returning them in turn.”

Turi Hippolitis de Ngāti Koata said that hosting kiwi spotted back to the south is an important occasion.

“Te Waipounamu is Kiwi Pukupuku’s traditional home, so being the first region to receive them back to your when in almost a century is a privilege.”

The small knitted Kiwi were created on the island of Kapiti and will be translocated to Nelson for several days.
Photo: Andrew Digby / Doc

Save Kiwi’s chief executive Michelle Impey said Little Spotted Kiwi was considered to disappear from most of the south island in the 1930s, so it was a significant mark for them to return to the Nelson area.

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said the next translocation was an important conservation achievement.

“The Kiwi have not lived in Nelson for about 100 years due to predators such as stones and this reintroduction is a tribute to the visionaries, volunteers and sponsors who worked so much in 20 years to create this sanctuary with their predators proof fence.

“I can’t wait to hear the Kiwi call on our own backyard. It will also be a boost for Nelson’s visitors industry to have Kiwi so close to the city and in a natural environment.”

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