Okarito Kiwi Sanctuary

One of our favourite walks is up to the Okaritio Trig. Both of us have worked for the kiwi team, Jo was the Programme Manager a few years ago. Here is a photo of our mate Duncan who is searching to find kiwi so he can put new transmitters on them. We like to help with this work.
Many bird species became extinct after the arrival of Polynesians, who brought the kiore (Pacific rat) and the kurī (dog) from Polynesia. Flightless and ground-nesting birds proved easy pickings for Polynesians, who simply walked up to moa and clubbed them. While humans are the most likely cause of the larger birds’ extinction, the kiore is the prime suspect in the disappearance of smaller birds and invertebrates.

By the 1900s Europeans had introduced other rat species, ferrets, weasels, stoats, cats, pigs and dogs, which further extinguished New Zealand’s birds and other animals. Click on this link Te Ara - excellent online encyclopedia of NZ