Kiwi have returned to the hills around Wellington after vanishing more than a hundred years ago, Euronews reports. The Capital Kiwi Project has now relocated 250 birds to the area, releasing the latest seven in April.
The key has been predator control on a huge scale. More than 5,000 traps across 24,000 hectares target stoats, the main threat to young kiwi, and chick survival has reached 90%. That matters for a bird whose national population has fallen from an estimated 12 million to around 70,000.
Founder Paul Ward said the bird has given New Zealanders so much of their sense of identity. Volunteers, landowners and local Māori have all joined the effort, and kiwi calls can once again be heard at night on the edge of the capital.
Source: Euronews