The dead kiwi have been found at Wharengaere Bay in the northern Bay of Islands. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Kiwi carnage is happening in the Bay of Islands with nine of the strictly protected birds killed at one isolated bay during the past six weeks.
RNZ understands the first dead kiwi was found on 29 January at Wharengaere Bay, off Hansen Road on the Purerua Peninsula.
Four more were discovered in the following weeks, with the death rate rising sharply this month.
Two kiwi corpses were found on 6 March, another on 7 March, and one more on 8 March.
RNZ also understands complaints have been lodged with the Far North District Council about roaming dogs in the Wharengaere Bay area since mid-2024.
The dead kiwi are believed on be on ice, awaiting post-mortem examinations to confirm the cause of death.
Most had injuries consistent with dog bites.
In a response to RNZ, the council's acting group manager for delivery and operation, Trent Blakeman, confirmed the tally of nine reported kiwi deaths so far.
He said the council had received various roaming dog reports in the wider area over the past 12 months.
DOC had received reports of kiwi deaths but had not been able to attribute the killings to particular dogs, Blakeman said.
"Where dogs have been identified as straying and linked to an owner, infringements have been issued to the owner. Animal management officers are visiting affected areas to check on dogs suspected of straying," he said.
Conservation groups are understood to be frustrated by the ongoing deaths, and say dogs linked to specific properties have been identified - including on tracking cameras - as roaming freely in the Wharengaere Bay area.
It is not the first time kiwi have been killed in significant numbers at Wharengaere Bay.
A kiwi killed during a previous dog attack near Russell in 2018. Photo: Supplied
A previous spate, in mid-2019, led to a rare prosecution in which a 50-year-old pleaded guilty to owning a dog that caused the deaths of six kiwi.
Some of the dead birds had been found on the lawn outside her home.
According to court documents, the dog owner was convicted and ordered to pay $300 in reparations. The dog, which had been allowed to roam freely, was destroyed.
Elsewhere in the Bay of Islands, at least six kiwi were killed in Ōpua Forest, near Paihia, in 2023.
Post-mortem examinations found the Ōpua kiwi had been mauled by dogs, but the owners were never identified.
Another spate occurred at Wharau Road, east of Kerikeri, in 2015, when at least eight kiwi were killed.
After a lengthy investigation by DOC and the Far North District Council, three dogs were destroyed and two owners were fined for failing to keep their dogs under control.
In 2021 a Russell man was fined a record $4500 for owning a dog that caused the deaths of two kiwi.
He had a number of previous convictions relating to roaming dogs.
Based on kiwi call counts, Purerua Peninsula, in the northern Bay of Islands, is believed to have the highest density of North Island brown kiwi in the country.
The peninsula is also home to a major pest-control operation targeting rats, stoats and feral cats.
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