Seven kiwi including two rare white chicks have been killed at a Wairarapa wildlife reserve since March.
A white kiwi at the Pukaha Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre (not one of those killed over the last few months). Photo: SUPPLIED
Pukaha Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre manager Helen Tickner said ferrets were thought to be responsible but they were proving hard to trap.
She said the Department of Conservation was trying different types of bait.
A total ban on set nets in Akaroa Harbour appears unlikely despite an endangered Hector's dolphin found to have drowned in one.
A kiwi chick has made an earlier than expected arrival into the world after it was run over by a 13-tonne digger.
Department of Conservation director-general Lou Sanson claims the deparment now has the resources to do its job after its annual report showed it failed to meet key goals in pest controls. Audio
The Department of Conservation is warning the kiwi could be lost from mainland New Zealand within 50 years - something it says will be a huge, international embarrassment.
The dawn chorus at Martins Bay is something to behold, the thousands of birds singing in the early morning light giving a glimpse of what New Zealand used to be like.
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