Staff and students at an Auckland primary school were left feeling "devastated" after their prize taxidermy kiwi was stolen.
May Road School in Mt Roskill made a plea on Facebook asking for the safe return of the school's kiwi. It was stolen from the reception area in the early hours of Monday morning.
May Road School principal Lynda Stuart told 1News she arrived to find "a break-in", with "smashed glass everywhere". Stuart said that while there was a lot of mess, nothing else was taken except the kiwi.
CCTV footage from inside the school's reception shows a person wearing a hat, sunglasses and gumboots peering into the building around 5.15am on Monday. They are also holding a large duffle bag. At one point the person pulls out a flashlight and shines it into the reception.
The person then walks away and appears to smash a nearby window (just out of shot) to gain entry, leaving a trail of glass in their wake. They are then seen running back out of the reception.
Stuart said the bird had been at the school for "years and years and years", and there were "some very upset kids".
"It's a taonga," she said.
The native bird, which has been a member of the school since at least 1981, was donated by Francis Ghio, who had children enrolled at the time.
An article shared by the school, believed to be posted in the school newsletter in May 2010, outlined the history of the kiwi and how it came to find a home within the Auckland primary.
The newsletter said the dead kiwi was found while Ghio was out pig hunting, and he kept the kiwi frozen for six months while waiting to decide what to do with it.
He approached the Auckland War Memorial Museum, who, according to the newsletter, was going to gift the kiwi to the Japanese Prime Minister while he was visiting Auckland. Ghio was “insistent” that the kiwi stayed in New Zealand, to “benefit a local school".
As his children were attending May Road School, he made the decision to home the kiwi there.
Now, after more than 40 years in the bird’s final resting spot, the kiwi was taken, much to the dismay of the school.
The school's Facebook post reads: “Our Kiwi is very rare and needs to be returned safely home to our reception. Our children have been very proud to learn about this icon.”
The post also provides contact details if members of the public have any information about the missing kiwi.
Police also posted about the missing kiwi on Facebook, asking for anyone with information to get in touch.
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