Training programmes for working dogs and pets are aimed at protecting the flightless bird’s dwindling numbers, but they come at a cost
ip, a young hunting dog, pads up a goat track through New Zealand’s damp forest undergrowth, alert and excited as her nose hoovers the ground for smells. She stops suddenly to investigate an irresistible scent – the sweet, musty aroma of kiwi.Tip is allowed a moment to inhale before a low-level electric pulse, issued from a collar, warns her that this bird is out of bounds. She briefly recoils, the electric signal enough to form an immediate negative association with the smell.
New Zealand’s national icon, the fluffy and flightless kiwi, is one of the most vulnerable birds in the country.efforts have for years tried to boost kiwi population numbers, but still their status ranges from “recovering” to “nationally critical”, depending on the species. “There is nothing protecting them – they are basically just two massive drumsticks with a head,” says Blake Cole, a kiwi avoidance trainer with Save the Kiwi.Blake Cole
Using electric collars as a training tool is contentious in New Zealand. Individual dogs can react differently to the pulses, with some having a more negative experience than others, says Kat Littlewood, an animal welfare lecturer at Massey University. “It’s about getting the message across that you can’t just let your dog out in the middle of the night for a wee and leave him out there for half an hour if you don’t know what he is up to. People seem to think that they are just chasing possums.”
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