It's been a project five or six years in the making, but finally, our national bird is taking flight... on their way to the country's capital.
One hundred kiwi have been taken from Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari in Waikato to Wellington's hills in an operation described as "returning our symbol and our icon and our taonga back" by Capital Kiwi founder Paul Ward said.
The entire translocation would take "a few weeks", Ward said, adding "it's a proud moment for the team".
All up, the project was expected to span over the next three months, with the kiwi having 24,000 hectares of land to call home.
Hundreds of people were involved in the operation, including pilots from the Wellington Aero Club, who helped round up the kiwi at the sanctuary. The birds were flown from Hamilton Airport to the capital.
"There is a long list of people who would love to help and offer their own services," Wellington Aero club member Robbie Van Dam said.
Once the kiwi arrived in Wellington, the next step would be to attach transmitters to some of the birds.
"We're monitoring approximately one quarter of the birds," Ward said.
"Ultimately our goal is to not have to monitor any birds whatsoever and they're living their lives as kiwi have done for tens of millions of years out there."
After the transmitters had been placed on the legs of our national symbol, the birds would be taken to their new homes, where they would join around 60 other kiwi.
"I guess what we are collectively doing today — the sanctuaries, the projects, the iwi, the communities — is supercharging kiwi conservation," Ward said.
"It's getting to grips with becoming genuine guardians of our national bird, and its shifting that relationship from being passively proud to being active guardians of our community."
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