<\/p>\n
\nIn a post of social media, the Capital Kiwi Project said all monitored chicks made fight weight, with none lost to predation.
\nPhoto: Facebook \/ The Capital Kiwi Project\n<\/p>\n
Wellington’s Capital Kiwi Project says all 10 chicks it has been monitoring have put on enough weight to fight off predators.<\/p>\n
At just 1.2kg, it said the chicks were big enough to send stoats packing.<\/p>\n
Around 200 kiwi lived in the Makara hills, south-west of Wellington city.<\/p>\n
In a post of social media, the Capital Kiwi Project said all monitored chicks made fight weight, with none lost to predation.<\/p>\n
The project credited the success to predator control.<\/p>\n
It said the kiwi comeback was based on a network of more than 45000 traps deployed across the area, backed by another network of locals, iwi and landowners.<\/p>\n
“In areas with no pest control, chick survivorship is 0 to 5 percent.”<\/p>\n
The main perpetrator was the stoat – but a 1kg kiwi could use its raking claws to fight off a stoat.<\/p>\n
“This is an exceptional result in the mission to restore wild kiwi to the hills surrounding our capital city.”<\/p>\n