One of the people involved posted what happened on social media, describing the experience as wonderful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fetched the others who likewise thought I was joking!\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kiwi was very calm, although I suspect the light would have blinded him. I carefully ushered him into a place where I carefully picked him up and placed him outside, where he scooted off into the night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forest & Bird regional conservation manager for Waikato and Taranaki, Elvisa van der Leden, told RNZ she believed the kiwi might have been a lost juvenile.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Kiwi] have terrible eyesight,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey navigate more with their sense of smell…\u201d<\/p>\n
It was more likely there was bush near the sleepout where the kiwi was found, van der Leden said, and that it just wandered into the house not realising it wasn\u2019t outside any more, rather than the bird actively seeking shelter inside.<\/p>\n
Getting instructions from experts was important when dealing with a wild kiwi or other animal, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can transfer germs or disease on to them without realising it, and they can do the same back to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWaiting for a [Department of Conservation] ranger to provide instructions is always the best thing to do as the first point of call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van der Leden said it was very easy to accidentally hurt kiwi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a very specific biology, their ribcage area is actually quite vulnerable so it requires trained experts to handle them without harming them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Department of Conservation biodiversity liaison Jess Scrimgeour said it was best to let kiwi find their own way out.<\/p>\n
\u201cClear the way out and you can gently usher the bird if needed. Give it space if it seems stressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was urging people not to pick up kiwi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have under-developed wing and chest muscles and lack a sternum [breastbone]. This makes them particularly vulnerable to crushing injuries,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the people involved posted what happened on social media, describing the experience as wonderful. \u201cI fetched…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[27129,8414,1866,38268,7799,78,194,111,139,69,147,82113,1869,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-218789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-blackwell","9":"tag-couple","10":"tag-find","11":"tag-finn","12":"tag-heads","13":"tag-in","14":"tag-kiwi","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-sleepout","20":"tag-whangrei","21":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}