Community-led conservation for kiwi in Te Tai Tokerau, focused on practical action, local knowledge and safer places for our national icon.
The Far North Kiwi Protection Team are a volunteer group bringing people together around the practical work of protecting kiwi in the Far North. The team’s work centres on kiwi rehabilitation, predator control, habitat restoration and community education.
Kiwi can live surprisingly close to people — in native bush, farmland, pine forest, scrub, coastal areas and even around homes. Local knowledge and everyday care therefore have an important part to play.
Our purpose is straightforward: reduce the threats kiwi face, care for the places they use, and help people take sensible action when kiwi share their land and neighbourhoods.
The work combines action on the ground with practical information for the people who live alongside kiwi.
Kiwi are ground-dwelling, flightless birds. Stoats are a serious threat to chicks, while dogs can kill kiwi of any age. Habitat loss and dry conditions can also push birds into unexpected places, including areas close to roads, homes and dogs. Predator control, responsible dog ownership and care for habitat all matter.
Kiwi protection depends on people noticing what is around them and making thoughtful choices. Keeping dogs under control, learning the signs of kiwi presence, protecting safe pockets of habitat and supporting predator control are practical ways local people can help.
If you have kiwi on your property, want to support the work or would like to know more, the team would be pleased to hear from you.
A specialist conservation dog
Yagi works with the team as a certified protected-species conservation dog. Under the close direction of her handler, she helps locate live kiwi, nests, feathers and other signs that can be difficult for people to find.
This careful searching supports practical work such as site checks, monitoring and responding when a kiwi may need help.
Donations and community support help Far North Kiwi Protection continue the conservation work described across this site.