kiwi released to the wild » Southern Encounter

kiwi released to the wild
25-04-2008

the two North Island brown kiwi from my aquarium (the Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House) left the other day to be released in the Mt. Bruce Forest. They are sisters, both nine years old, originally bred at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. They will be replaced (today) with a young pair of birds from Orana Park.

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More kiwis released
25-04-2008

I have recieved the latest copy of "Zoo Alive" which is the Auckland FOZ magazine .
More news in another thread , but the zoo has incubated hatched and reared 19 North Island brown kiwis this last year . The zoo kept 2 of them for its own kiwihouse , but released the remaining 17 onto Motuora Island

The total number of successful breed and released kiwis ex Auckland Zoo since 1996 is 169 kiwis ! May there be many more in years to come

25-04-2008

I doubt that's 169 kiwi actually bred at Auckland Zoo. More likely they are from the Operation Nest Egg programme, which are simply incubated eggs from wild birds.

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response from Nigel
25-04-2008

I will quote the sentence in the newsletter exactly word for word .

This summers efforts bringthe total number of kiwi chicks incubated , hatched , reared and released by Zoo staff since 1996 to 169 !

Its right there on Page 9 , the very last sentence .
"Zoo staff " is not Operation Nest Egg , this operation is a combined effort of numerous wildlife agencies , and more than just Auckland Zoo staff

If I am led to believe that this is the work of Auckland Zoo , I am sure that you can understand WHY I report it as such -- the article specifically states
Zoo Staff , and the only reference to the Operation Nest egg in the whole article ,is the reference to the recent release of only 17 kiwis onto the island


I report only what I am told or led to believe -- if zoos lead me up the garden path , I will report nonsense . Hence my reports on zoos in Malaysia with the spin of the crooked Director at Taiping .....

I may very well be wrong , ( and concur if that is the case ) but its there in black and white on the newsletter .

I am not trying to take a hunk out of you , Chlidoneos -- your posts have alot of good merit -- it is just that I am reporting the news from the newsletter . I apologise if I have offended you

25-04-2008

no apologies necessary, it is just my opinion that the 169 kiwi are probably part of ONE rather than bred by the zoo's own pair(s) -- I don't know how many breeding pairs the zoo has. The line about "zoo staff" doesn't imply to me that it isn't ONE, just that zoo staff were incubating, rearing etc from eggs (and if that's the case the zoo wouldn't be trying to be misleading, they would simply be proud of their staff's involvement). 169 chicks in 11 years is an average of 15 successful chicks reared per year, which is a lot of successful chicks if they are being bred there (there is a high percentage of infertile eggs in both captive and wild kiwi). ONE eggs are spread around several facilities and the total number of chicks successfully reared and released has just passed 1000, so these 169 could well be Auckland Zoo's contribution to the programme.

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26-04-2008

DoC brings most of the Kiwis to the zoo from the wild as eggs to keep till they are 9 months old and can be released more safely on protected islands and then sometimes to the mainland when fully grown...

The zoo also actively breeds its Tuatara and Kiwi...

This is all in a few of the episodes of 'The Zoo' I have on DVD...

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09-05-2008

here's a video of the kiwi leaving the Aquarium:

YouTube - Kiwis released - Wild birds returned to native home.

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