New Zealand Kiwi "free falling" toward extinction
Date: 17-Sep-99
Country: NEW ZEALAND
Author: Stephen Wright
Although New Zealand's kiwi population has been declining steadily for
decades, a conservation report showing an 18 percent fall in the
population in one of its few remaining strongholds within a year has
prompted a rash of concerned newspaper articles.
According to the report a kiwi is being killed at a rate of one every
two hours and is "free-falling" to extinction.
The kiwi population, made up of four different species, is now estimated
to be 70,000, down from five million in 1923.
The kiwi is under attack from "alien" predators at all stages of its
life cycle, said Kevin Smith director of the Forest and Bird Society.
The society authored the report.
Dogs and ferrets prey on adult birds. Stoats (weasels) and cats are
responsible for a 95 percent chick mortality rate, and possums and
stoats destroy kiwi eggs, Smith told Reuters on Thursday.
Smith said that if the rapid rate of decline continues kiwis will
disappear from mainland New Zealand in five to 10 years.
"The kiwi has all the hallmarks of a species heading for extinction," he
said
Hopes for the species survival rest on pro-active protection of the
kiwi's natural habitat, Smith said.
With a general election expected in November, the Forest and Bird
Society has called for the conservative National Party government to
commit NZ$10 million ($5.2 million) to a kiwi recovery programme.
The programme would see the establishment of 10 zones to keep kiwis away
from predators. The society has also demanded an end to logging and
clearing forests that provide key kiwi habitats.
So far the government and the main centre-left opposition party Labour
have avoided making a commitment to the kiwi.
"If we don't do something right now the genetic base of the kiwi
population would become so small it will create a bottleneck for
recovery," Smith warned.
