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National | Ngāti Awa ki Rangitaiki

Texas Rangers pilot helping to protect Kiwi

Students at Te Teko School have been given an outdoor education mission in an effort to protect the eastern brown kiwi.

'Texas Rangers' is a pilot programme that was launched at Ruaihona marae today which will give students up-close contact with the kiwi in their natural habitat.

This generation are preparing to up-skill themselves with knowledge from their own natural surroundings.

Tony Holland, principal of Te Teko School says, “The tamariki will have eight sessions in the ngahere and they will be up there all day.”

Texas Rangers will teach 20 senior students about the brown kiwi living in Puhikoko forest.

One of the students that has been chosen to participate in this program is Pounamu Paraku, he says, “It feels awesome just being able to protect the kiwi from all the predators.  I want to be ranger when I grow up so I can help the kiwi.”

The project was made possible by the Ōmataroa No2 Trust who have been protecting kiwi on their lands for over ten years.

This partnership between them and forestry Company Rayonier Matariki Forests will now enable these students to learn about kiwi rehabilitation.

Waaka Vercoe of the Trust says, “The majority of our children, this would be the first time they have seen a kiwi and it's like that for the majority of our country.  From this, we are working as one within our land.”

The children will be spending the day with Ian Tarei and his team, who run and look after the kiwi on Ōmataroa.

The project will continue until the end of this year.