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Bay Bush Action Network
Kiwis killed in New Zealand's Opua State Forest.
Dogs let off their leashes were blamed in the death of scores of kiwis in a New Zealand national forest, according to local media reports.
The Bay Bush Action Network, an activist group that aims to protect native animals in New Zealand’s Opua State Forest, said about 60 kiwis have been killed over a one-year period, almost all by dogs. The group posted a picture of a flock of killed birds on its Facebook page.
“Even the most harmless beloved dog can be a killer of a kiwi,” the group said on its Facebook page.
Don Robertson, of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, told the New Zealand Herald that 80 percent of adult kiwi deaths can be attributed to pet dogs every year.
The kiwis are targeted by dogs, Robertson said, because they are “nice smelling and run away when disturbed."
"People believe they just have the right to keep their dogs off the lead -- or they say 'my dog wouldn't do that.' Of course it would,” Robertson told the Herald. “People don't understand kiwi can be half a metre off the track sheltering under a bush.”
The paper reported that the estimated number of North Island kiwi declined by at least 90 percent during the 20th century, with some 8,000 remaining in the far northern reaches of the island.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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I can't be the only one who thought the dogs were eating kiwi fruit...
Only to find they're killing some ugly bird.
Either way, that's an animal being an animal. Oh well, sucks to be the kiwi bird!
...State parks can institute *massive* fine for dogs running caught running loose... Either that or destroy those caught running loose... (since you can't do that to owners...)
...In my town people say that "...My dog wouldn't do that..." including one that tore into young girl's legs needing more thatn 60 stiches to repair... No rabies shots... tried to hide animal from authorities...
...On some of the tiny islands off Australia feral cats have threatened to wipe out some helpless species of birds... Traps, even poisons did not work as cats shunned anything new in their environment... In the end, government had Army snipers deal with problem from hundreds of yards away...
...Some people shouldn't have animals... or children for that matter... Both are blessings... in the hands of decent people...
Save the Kiwi ....
hi
we know that dogs are good hunter and active too. but dog owner can control these acivities. death of kiwis in new zeland is shameful news.
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