Dog implicated in kiwi death

A dog may have been responsible for fatally injuring a juvenile kiwi found at Omaha Beach earlier this month.

A source associated with the bird said the bird’s injuries were consistent with a dog attack. They said an examination revealed that the kiwi was paralysed from the neck down and too badly injured to recover, so the decision was made to euthanise the bird late last week.

The kiwi is believed to have fallen onto rocks at the southern end of the beach where it was found by a beach walker. It was cold and lethargic when found, but still alive and transported to Auckland Zoo.

Meanwhile, dog owners in the Whangateau area are being put on kiwi alert.

The Tamahunga Trappers telemetry team has picked up a signal from a transmitter of one of the kiwi, a male, released to Tamahunga in that area.

Dog owners are being asked follow three simple steps to help protect the kiwi – keep dogs in sight or tied up at home, keep dogs on leads when out and about, and keep dogs inside at night.

The Tamahunga Trappers telemetry team has been keeping a very close watch on this kiwi, in between keeping tabs on the others that have stayed on Tamahunga, to see where he has settled.

A spokesperson for the group says they don’t want to have to catch the kiwi too often, but because he looks to have settled in an area where they know there are a number of dogs nearby, they are organising a team to catch him and return him to the Tamahunga forest.

“Dogs are one of the biggest threats to kiwi. Kiwi have a very strong smell that is enticing to all dogs and a dog will invariably attack or at least investigate a kiwi. Because kiwi don’t fly, they don’t have a breast bone or strong chest muscles and are easily killed by a dog being aggressive or even just inquisitive.

“Keeping dogs under control is essential to keep the kiwi safe. Dogs can also have kiwi aversion training (KAT) to make them shy away from the smell of kiwi. However, KAT isn’t a perfect tool. It works best on working dogs (farm and hunting dogs) and all dogs need to have a refresher every six to 12 months.”

The Tamahunga Trappers is organising a training day in October. If people would like to sign up to have their dogs trained they can contact tamahungatrappers@hotmail.co.nz