‘It was 10 years of work, all in one moment’: Wellington’s kiwi are now truly ‘free range’

The useful part

Founder Paul Ward tells Shanti Mathias about what it took to get there, and what comes next. It's a bit like taking off a cast: there's a mulchy, fetid odour under the transmitter. It made me think of when a child leaves home – it's sad to lose that contact, but also so sweet because it enables these kiwi to be wild, as they have been for 80 million years.

How it works

• We had to run that for three years and meet a number of metrics to show stoat numbers were low enough to bring kiwi back.
• Ten years ago, we pulled out a map and looked at the land south and west of Wellington city.
• We also couldn't have done it without the support of Ngāti Toa and Taranaki Whānui.
• In 2021 and 2022 we had conversations with sanctuary sites and iwi, and the first kiwi were released in November 2022.

Details worth keeping

Tell me about taking the final transmitters off. It's mostly privately owned, there is no big regional park. To do this we had to get landowners on board for support.