The clip shows Boyce and a work colleague taking off the filter cover, then Boyce reaches in and gently lifts the baby North Island brown kiwi out and wraps it in a towel. <\/p>\n
She then places the chick in a cardboard box. <\/p>\n
Boyce said the experience was \u201csurreal\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the guests ask staff if we\u2019ve seen kiwi, and I say we can hear them at night, but to see them is pretty special. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like I was holding a kitten. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like a feather, it felt very soft.\u201d <\/p>\n
Boyce said before handling the kiwi, she phoned Nik Minchin from Russell Landcare Trust for advice on what to do. <\/p>\n
They put the box containing the chick into a dark garage for the day. <\/p>\n
Then at dusk, they released him into a nesting box on site.<\/p>\n
Amelia Boyce was surprised to find this kiwi chick stuck in the swimming pool filter.<\/p>\n
The property has several nesting boxes on the property which provide safe, dry, and predator-free environments for nesting and breeding. <\/p>\n
Minchin, the trustee and technical adviser, said he got advice from Kiwi Coast to \u201cdry the kiwi up and keep it in a box\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf it was looking healthy and lively, they said release it in the afternoon. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty fortunate; it only got a little wet and cold. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing to do was get it back into the wild as soon as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n
Minchin said the chick was about two weeks old, but it was too young to identify whether it was male or female. <\/p>\n
He estimated there were more than 2000 kiwi on the Russell peninsula and kiwi populations were increasing 10% each year because of community efforts in predator control. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, that meant more kiwi were getting hit by cars and \u201cstuck in more odd places\u201d. <\/p>\n
In 2024, Russell woman Tabatha Bird had an unexpected encounter <\/a>when a kiwi entered her house via a cat flap then made its way through the kitchen into the shower. <\/p>\n