New Zealand efforts to rescue kiwi birds

New Zealand was teeming with kiwi birds a millennium ago, but the arrival of Polynesian voyagers in the 1200s and Europeans a few hundred years later changed all that.

There are only about 70,000 wild kiwi birds left in New Zealand but numbers are growing thanks to dozens of community initiatives aimed at protecting them. Photo: AFP

Numbers of native flightless birds such as the kakapo and kiwi have plummeted, with the country's Department of Conservation estimating there are only about 70,000 wild kiwi left in New Zealand.

Although the bird is a beloved national symbol, few New Zealanders have encountered one in the wild.

However, that number is rising again thanks to more than 90 community initiatives working nationwide to protect them.

The Capital Kiwi Project - a charity supported by millions of dollars from government grants and private donations - is helping to conserve the bird.

Project leader Paul Ward estimates the last time wild kiwi were seen in the Wellington area was more than a century ago.

The birds were carefully transported nearly 500km from a captive breeding programme to a school in Wellington, where they were welcomed with a traditional Maori ceremony.

Ward wants the bird's distinctive shrill call to become a part of everyday life in the Wellington suburbs. "It's our job to look after our iconic species," he said.

Mai Anh (according to CNA)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/new-zealand-no-luc-giai-cuu-loai-chim-kiwi-post245797.html