Original article by Sandy Myhre – 27 March 2025, New Zealand Herald, Northern Advocate

In a combined community effort, a little kiwi has been rescued from Tapeka Point near Russell and has been given sanctuary. It was a saga to find and capture him.

Two visitors to Russell, staying at Tapeka, celebrated their wedding anniversary with a skinny dip in the sea. They saw a kiwi that had fallen from the steep cliff above the beach and called the Department of Conservation (DoC), which in turn called Russell Landcare Trust, which runs the Predator Free Russell programme.

The trust’s lead, Nik Minchin, was in Christchurch for a predator-free conference with Andrew Mentor from Kiwi Coast. So Minchin called Ella van Gool from Russell Landcare Trust and she and her partner Charlie Watt headed to Tapeka. 

Jackson is Russell’s own bird whisperer and takes in around 125 birds a year on average. Everyone decided at that point to call the little kiwi “Cliff”, for obvious reasons.

Jackson started on Cliff’s tick removal and co-ordinated with vets, DoC and Kiwi Coast. She said he wasn’t injured but he had very light body condition, likely due to the current big dry.

“He was probably born last year or could even be a February chick and he weighed in at 400g.”

A local Russell resident drove him to the Bay of Islands Rehabilitation Centre in Kerikeri, where he was put into a brooder box to later be transferred to an outdoor pen to grow in a predator-free environment.

Meanwhile, back in Christchurch, Minchin and Mentor monitored the situation and kept everyone informed. It was a classic case of a community rallying for a cause.