Meeting Smaug
We named our Kiwi bird “Smaug” after the dragon in The Hobbit for his fiery behaviour. Smaug came into our lives when we went to do a health check on him in Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari. But before we could come face-to-face with the kiwi, we learned exactly how kiwi birds are protected and how charity funds are being used.
Mark Lammas, a kiwi practitioner funded by the WWF, finds young kiwi and eggs in the wild with the help of his tracker dog, Bella. Bella sniffs out the kiwi and gently guides it over to Mark. Then, the kiwi is looked after in an enclosure until it is healthy and old enough to look after itself in the wild. This increases the kiwi’s chance of surviving in the wild, as 95% of chicks die before they reach breeding age in an uncontrolled environment. By releasing the kiwi into a controlled environment free of predators, like Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, it stands a much greater chance of breeding to increase populations, and living a wonderful kiwi life.