Global News - December 2007
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New Zealand steps up kiwi protection efforts
Fri 28 December 2007 12:55 UK — Australasia,Birds
New Zealand's government is stepping up its efforts to halt the decline in numbers of the country's iconic flightless bird, the kiwi.
A combination of shrinking habitat and newly-introduced predators has greatly reduced the numbers of the bird but the government's Department of Conservation is working in partnership with local groups to rebuild their population.
The International Herald Tribune reports that an ongoing project aims to take kiwi eggs from the wild and hatch and raise the birds in protected areas before returning them to their place of birth, with the initiative recently celebrating its 1,000th birth.
"Increasingly local communities are organising themselves and beginning their own kiwi restoration projects," kiwi expert John McLennan told the newspaper.
"It might have taken 10 years to reach 1,000 chicks, but I think it's only going to take a couple more years to reach 2,000," he added.
According to figures provided by the New Zealand government, the country's kiwi population has declined from five million when European settlers first arrived on the islands in 1840 to a current total of 75,000.
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