A group of 10 kiwi will immigrate from a nearby colony on Pōnui Island to a new home on Waiheke’s Te Matuku Peninsula in mid-May. It will be the culmination of a two-year effort by Save The Kiwi, Ngāti Pāoa and Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki to bring kiwi to Waiheke, fulfilling a 20-year dream for local environmentalists.
Conservation legend, the late Sir Rob Fenwick and wife Jennie, advocated to establish a kiwi colony on Waiheke to take some pressure off the kiwi population on nearby Pōnui Island. The birds have been so successful on the island that they have been running out of room and food, leaving many chicks struggling to survive.
New Zealand Wildlife released 14 kiwi on Pōnui in 1964 and today the island is home to roughly 1500.
• Paul Mitchell
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