Goal: Protect kiwi birds from extermination.
Hundreds of years ago, New Zealand’s forests were the home to millions of kiwis, filling the night air with the echoes of their calls. Now, however, there are less than sixty thousand of these birds left, and the population is still in rapid decline.
Kiwis are threatened by extinction mainly because of non-native predators, lost habitat, and humans. They are almost defenseless against introduced predators such as cats and dogs, and their forest habitat has been radically cleared to make room for human housing and agricultural use. This means the kiwi has less space, food, and resources to survive. Hunting and trapping are additional threats. In the wild, 95% of kiwi chicks are killed, but at least 20% of kiwis need to survive for the population to grow. At this rate, these magnificent birds could vanish from the mainland of New Zealand in our lifetime.