A kiwi chick has survived being run over by a 13-tonne digger before it was ready to hatch from its egg.
Whisker – so named because it survived by a whisker – is now recovering at Rainbow Springs’ Kiwi Encounter in Rotorua.
The chick’s dramatic start to life began when a digger driver at Paparangi Station in the East Cape accidentally uncovered a kiwi burrow.
Whinray Kiwi Trust volunteer Steve Sawyer says the digger driver saw something run in front of his digger, but he thought it was a possum and kept on working.
“Land owner Clive Lewis then spotted the egg in the culvert on the side of the road and went to pick it up. He was very surprised to hear a squawk and to see a partially hatched kiwi chick,” says Sawyer.
“He carefully placed the egg down his Swan-dri top to keep it warm and drove the three kilometres back to his house to call me,” says Sawyer.
After seeking advice from the Kiwi Encounter team the community rallied around to help the kiwi chick, the local Motu School principal supplied an incubator and thermometers, while Amy England retrieved her 4-year-old son from daycare to make the more than 4 hour drive north to Rotorua.
England ensured that the egg was secured safely in the car, and remained in a constant temperature of between 26 – 30 degrees, and she also had to entertain her son Cael for the journey. I think by the time they reached Opotiki the chick had pretty well hatched,” says Sawyer.
Kiwi Encounter assistant husbandry manager Emma Bean says when the chick arrived it had a lot of soil around its navel and needed a bit of a clean up.
“But apart from that it managed to complete the hatch itself and is strong and healthy. I would like to commend everyone who helped deliver the chick to us,” says Bean
“The male kiwi sitting on the nest got such a fright it wouldn’t have returned and the chick wouldn’t have survived, it was just incredibly lucky the chick was so close to hatching. Calling us and keeping the egg warm was exactly the right thing to do.”
Bean says she encourages anyone who finds a kiwi egg to call the Kiwi Encounter team for advice.
Whisker will be released to a crèche near Gisborne in about three weeks and then once it’s a healthy 1kg in weight and strong enough to survive in the wild it will be released back to the wild at Whinray Scenic Reserve near Motu.
