New Zealand kiwi face existential predation pressure from introduced mammals, and community-led predator control is the primary welfare and conservation intervention.
Kiwi welfare is inseparable from predator control: adult kiwi that survive stoat or ferret attacks suffer severe bite injuries, often to the head and neck, that cause lingering deaths from infection or haemorrhage. Chicks that are killed outright suffer acute traumatic deaths; those injured and not killed face predator-caused suffering before dying. The welfare of predators used in control programmes is also a consideration: 1080 causes a slow death in possums and rats while being rapid in birds; Goodnature self-resetting traps cause rapid cervical dislocation. Community trapping builds social capital around wildlife welfare and delivers measurable kiwi population recovery — one of the most successful community conservation welfare models globally.