Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā, ka tangi hoki ahau. Tihei Mauri Ora! The tītī is calling, the kākā is calling and I wish to call. Behold, there is life! Tumai Cassidy from Te Rūnaka ō Ōtākou opened the Predator Free Dunedin Winter series talk, “Back to the future: Reintroducing taoka species to Ōtepoti Dunedin” with this beautiful whakataukī. It reminds us that we are all part of the same ecosystem with the tītī and the kākā, and we have a responsibility to care for all living things to keep the ecosystem intact. The theme of being interconnected, working together and living alongside nature weaved throughout the discussions. Paul Ward, Founder of Capital Kiwi, spoke about how the project began and the milestones the project has achieved in the greater Wellington region.The starting point came about after council work on eliminating possums led to native birds spilling over from Zealandia into neighbouring regions. Community groups and landowners noticed native birds moving into the region and in response they began setting up their own trap lines to continue removing predators. Predator control, combined with regrowth of suitable habitat, led to the first wild kākā successfully breeding there in 2016. It was at that time that Paul and a couple of friends established Capital Kiwi with a vision to create a safe habitat for kiwi to be reintroduced to the greater Wellington region. Since then, the project has focused on removing stoats, which are the number one predator for kiwi. The project combined and extended the existing small-scale protected areas into a network that now covers over 23,000 hectares of land. To achieve this coverage, Capital Kiwi have built strong collaborations and fostered an active guardianship approach between iwi, private landowners and communities. Together they manage a network of 4,600 traps and they have been working on restoring the environment for kiwi and other native species.
Since the establishment of the trap network in 2018, Capital Kiwi have reached significant milestones, releasing kiwi in 2022, and this year seeing the first wild kiwi chicks hatch and grow to a size where they are able to protect themselves against stoats. The project has been immensely successful and is a fantastic example of the positive impact humans have had on the ecosystem.
February 20, 2025
Re-wilding Dunedin — City Sanctuary
maximios city
Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā, ka tangi hoki ahau. Tihei Mauri Ora! The tītī is calling, the kākā is calling and I wish to call. Behold, there is life! Tumai Cassidy from Te Rūnaka ō Ōtākou opened the Predator Free Dunedin Winter series talk, “Back to the future: Reintroducing taoka species to Ōtepoti Dunedin” with this beautiful whakataukī. It reminds us that we are all part of the same ecosystem with the tītī and the kākā, and we have a responsibility to care for all living things to keep the ecosystem intact. The theme of being interconnected, working together and living alongside nature weaved throughout the discussions. Paul Ward, Founder of Capital Kiwi, spoke about how the project began and the milestones the project has achieved in the greater Wellington region.The starting point came about after council work on eliminating possums led to native birds spilling over from Zealandia into neighbouring regions. Community groups and landowners noticed native birds moving into the region and in response they began setting up their own trap lines to continue removing predators. Predator control, combined with regrowth of suitable habitat, led to the first wild kākā successfully breeding there in 2016. It was at that time that Paul and a couple of friends established Capital Kiwi with a vision to create a safe habitat for kiwi to be reintroduced to the greater Wellington region. Since then, the project has focused on removing stoats, which are the number one predator for kiwi. The project combined and extended the existing small-scale protected areas into a network that now covers over 23,000 hectares of land. To achieve this coverage, Capital Kiwi have built strong collaborations and fostered an active guardianship approach between iwi, private landowners and communities. Together they manage a network of 4,600 traps and they have been working on restoring the environment for kiwi and other native species.
Since the establishment of the trap network in 2018, Capital Kiwi have reached significant milestones, releasing kiwi in 2022, and this year seeing the first wild kiwi chicks hatch and grow to a size where they are able to protect themselves against stoats. The project has been immensely successful and is a fantastic example of the positive impact humans have had on the ecosystem.