Fluffy babes on scales
The West Coast Wildlife Centre uses Advasco scales to help care for their kiwis. Yep, here at Advasco we can help you weigh all sorts of birds, from kiwis - our beautiful, unique and endangered bird, to Lockheed Hudsons - WW11 bombers which Kiwis flew in and one of which is resident at Motat.
That's Nibbles (Rowi) at five days old, on the right, and below is Othello (Haast tokoeka) at eight days. Scales are used to track the weight losses and gains of young kiwi chicks, and to weigh food for the chicks.
The West Coast Wildlife Centre is a public private partnership with the Department of Conservation. It is the official home of the incubation and captive rearing program for New Zealand’s most endangered kiwi –the Rowi and Haast tokoeka - part of the battle to save these birds from extinction. Experts in the specialist husbandry required to care for these very special birds, the West Coast Wildlife Centre offers visitors an educational experience, looking at the fight for kiwi survival.
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In the wild, only 5% of kiwi that hatch will survive to adulthood due to predation by stoats and other introduced mammalian predators. The OperationNest EggTM program involves removing wild kiwi eggs from their forest sanctuaries, hatching them in captivity and placing the chicks in a predator-free environment until they are big enough to fend for themselves. The kiwis are then returned to the wild, with each chick's survival rating now dramatically increased to 70%! Great work by the West Coast Wildlife Centre.