New Zealand's iconic kiwis have declined from millions to fewer than 68,000 individuals due to introduced predators, with intensive predator management being the key welfare and conservation intervention.
Kiwi chicks experience extreme vulnerability in a landscape where every common predator is a lethal threat. Stoat predation is efficient and rapid, but rat predation of eggs and young chicks is a prolonged welfare harm that affects populations across vast areas. Operation Nest Egg protects individual welfare by removing chicks from this predator pressure during their most vulnerable period. The Predator Free 2050 vision, if achieved, would restore a predator-free welfare environment for all kiwi across the entire country - the most ambitious national wildlife welfare program in the world.