1000th kiwi chick to leave nest | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

There were celebrations at Rainbow Springs' Kiwi Encounter yesterday as their 1000th kiwi chick was released into the wild.

Four-month-old brown kiwi Mille was returned to her native habitat in the Waimarino Forest near Ohakune by Enviro Research. Weighing in at 1kg, she is now strong and healthy enough to fight off predators.

Mille, whose name is French for thousand, was born on the day the All Blacks beat France for the first time on the way to World Cup victory.

Kiwi Encounter husbandry manager Claire Travers said: "The chick is absolutely beautiful, nice and plump with gorgeous feathers. She's a great food forager with a penchant for cicada pupa."

She said the release of the 1000th kiwi to be hatched at Kiwi Encounter was a great achievement that went a long way to ensuring the survival of our national bird.

"We're very proud to be playing such an important role in the conservation of kiwi," she said.

Assistant husbandry manager Emma Bean said while all releases were exciting, this one was extra special.

"It's a huge milestone that's not been done anywhere before," she said.

Ms Bean said they currently had 20 eggs and 16 chicks at Kiwi Encounter and had hatched 102 chicks already this year.

She said her team loved their jobs but had to be "quite staunch" with the chicks so as not to get too attached.

"A lot of people wonder if it's a sad day when we release a chick but it's always a celebration," she said.

Mille's farewell marked 16 years of hard work by Kiwi Encounter, who have become the largest kiwi hatching facility in the country. Department of Conservation staff and volunteers around the North Island harvest eggs from nests and bring them to Kiwi Encounter, where they are hatched and prepared for release.

Kiwi chicks born in the wild have only a 5 per cent chance of survival but the chicks reared and returned by Kiwi Encounter have a 60-70 per cent survival rate. More than 1600 kiwi chicks have been returned to the wild nationally since the programme began in 1994.