State of the World from NPR The Ambitious Effort to Save New Zealand’s Iconic Bird
Oct 13, 2025
Lauren Sommer, an environmental reporter from NPR, delves into the plight of the kiwi, New Zealand’s beloved flightless bird, facing extinction due to invasive species. The discussion highlights the ambitious Predator-Free 2050 initiative aimed at eradicating threats like rats and possums. Sommer captures the challenges of tracking kiwi chicks and the battle against crafty stoats. Ethical considerations around conservation technology, including AI traps and gene-targeted poisons, spark an intriguing debate on the future of wildlife protection.
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Finding And Checking A Kiwi Chick
- A five-week-old North Island brown kiwi chick was tracked and given a health check after release into the wild.
- Volunteers described how kiwi forage with their long beaks and live hidden in burrows, emerging mostly at night.
Stoats Devastate Kiwi Chicks
- Young kiwi survival in the wild is extremely low, with only about 5% surviving in some areas.
- Stoats, introduced by European settlers, are the primary predator killing most kiwi chicks soon after they leave nests.
Trappers Face 'Hardcore' Stoats
- Conservation volunteers use DOC 200 traps that crush predators instantly and have passed animal welfare testing.
- Teams set hundreds of traps and face increasingly trap-averse 'hardcore' stoats that learn to avoid capture.