Disturbing footage has emerged of a "hands on" kiwi experience at Miami Zoo - where visitors have likened the bird to a puppy.
In the video, the kiwi is on display in a fully lit room, with no greenery to mimic its usual habitat, and zoo visitors gathered round - excitedly getting an up close experience with it.
The Department of Conservation has announced it's taking its concerns to the zoo - over how the bird is being treated.
The kiwi is called Paora, named after iwi leader and environmentalist Paora Haitana. He travelled to Miami for its unveiling there, and has told Checkpoint it was never mean to be handled like a pet in broad daylight.
In the video that Zoo Miami posted to social media, visitors surrounded Paora the kiwi as he sat on a table under bright lights, despite being a nocturnal creature.
The keeper in the video said "He loves being pet, he's like a little dog and he loves his head being pet."
Another video showed Paora in a brightly-lit enclosure before retreating to the darkness of his hutch.
Just a few seconds later the keeper opened the door and exposed him to the light again.
"He'll stand there until it gets dark before he goes in the box and then you wait like five seconds and like magic he'll be ... so he wants to be in the dark and go back to sleep."
The bird was named in honour of New Zealand environmentalist and iwi leader Paora Haitana, who was part of a delegation that visited Zoo Miami for an official ceremony after the bird hatched back in 2019.
While he was not immediately able to view the video himself, a description over the phone was enough to cause Haitana real concern.
"It's our signature we're known as the kiwi, so it goes against everything the bird was given to them for."
Haitana said the bird should have been kept in darkness and was worried it would have damaged eyesight.
He said it was his understanding that the bird would be looked after in a way that was consistent with how they were cared for in New Zealand.
"It's a taonga and absolutely it was given in good faith that it would be managed, controlled and looked after by Miami Zoo, so it's a concern, huge concern."
Paora being fed in the daylight at Zoo Miami. Photo: Twitter / Miami Zoo
The zoo's website advertised kiwi encounters for $US25, for an experience guests would "cherish forever."
But Ngaire Sullivan who works for Kiwicoast in Northland said the experience should not be on offer to begin with.
"Preferably they should never be handled, they should be able to be flourishing in the wild."
In particular the opportunity to touch the kiwi was concerning.
"We have to be extremely careful, especially of their head and their beak, and most importantly, not to handle them around the chest.
"You just have to be a trained person to be able to handle them safely without causing them life threatening injuries."
Sullivan said the kiwi should also have been secured while sitting on the table.
Department of Conservation guidelines for handling kiwi state kiwi must not be regularly taken out of their burrows just for the purposes of allowing people to see and touch them.
Individual groups of no more than 10 may observe health checks and transmitter changes on a kiwi, but they must only be handled by an approved kiwi handler.
The welfare of the birds must be paramount when kiwi are handled.
According to the zoo's website they offered kiwi encounters four times a week.
Sullivan said none of what happened in Miami would ever happen here.
"We would never be allowed to do that anywhere in New Zealand, you see all the kiwi houses in New Zealand are nocturnal houses.
"There's no kiwi being scratched on its head in front of you, there's not a kiwi sitting on a table ... it's very far from what we would how we would expect kiwi to be treated."
A petition has been set up calling for an investigation into the conditions Paora lives in and to relocate him to another home, with over 2000 signatures already.
It said: "Kiwis are our precious Taonga not America's toys."
In a statement, DOC director of terrestrial biodiversity Hilary Aikman said kiwi's in America are managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and they would be raising concerns with Miami Zoo to try and improve the housing and handling situation.
Checkpoint has approached Miami Zoo for comment.
