Pets v kiwi impact

NEW HOME: This large, mature brown female kiwi was found on the Kerikeri Heritage Bypass construction site before construction started. It was later released in the upper Kerikeri River catchment.

A council notice advising that cats should not be kept in the wider Whangaroa-Waipapa-Kerikeri area will have an impact on the property market, say real estate agents.

Two agents report loss of sales recently because of the Conservation Department-drafted advice, supplied with Land Information Memorandum reports and issued by the council.

These LIM reports provide prospective property buyers with current and historical information on land and property.

The notice recommends no cats or mustelids (stoats, ferrets, weasels) and no more than two dogs per household in kiwi areas.

An extensive area of the Far North is defined by DOC as a medium or high kiwi area except for small pockets around central Kerikeri and at Matauri Bay.

Real estate agent Ian Knox says a buyer backed out of a land purchase recently when she thought she might not be able to keep her pet cat. When she later bought a home in suburban Kerikeri, she was surprised to find this area also defined as a medium kiwi zone.

The council does not enforce the advice unless such conditions are registered against the relevant title but Mr Knox says property buyers will be wary of enforcement at a later stage if further consents are needed.

Real estate agent Harry Wynnychuk also raised the issue.

The idea of putting advice notices on LIMs came from a submission to the council's long term community plan.

The council's principal planner Pat Killalea says he met with Land Information to discuss the appropriate wording, similar to that placed on resource consents, in areas where kiwi are present but where a condition banning cats and dogs can't be justified.

"The intention was to advise people that they would be living in a kiwi habitat area where cats and dogs could have an adverse effect on kiwi. It does not ban pets. Also, it appears that a review of the extent of the habitat area around Kerikeri is warranted."

Where the site is within an area identified by DOC as a high or medium kiwi distribution zone, the notice says "cats and mustelids should not be introduced or kept on site and it is recommended that no more than two dogs be kept at the site at any time and they should be kept under control or in a dog-proof enclosure at all times."

The kiwi areas are based on an assessment from DOC's kiwi advocates about where the birds are found in Northland, supported by call count information.

The advice notes issued with LIM reports were drafted by the council, says DOC Bay of Islands area manager Rolien Elliot.

"If we were to suggest an advice note for kiwi protection in medium density kiwi areas it would be saying that dogs are a major menace for kiwi and therefore it is preferable that no dogs are kept.

"However this is just advice and it is up to the landowner whether to accept it. The department distinguishes between medium and high density areas in terms of its advocacy for no cats and dogs. The high density areas where advocacy is concentrated are a much smaller area - around the north Kerikeri Inlet - Rangitane, Opito Bay, Doves Bay, Purerua Peninsula, Waimate North and Wharau Rd."

The kiwi areas are based on an assessment from Department of Conservation kiwi advocates as to where kiwi are found in Northland, supported by call count information and by Ray Pierce's overview and information.

The current kiwi density map is the third version of the map, the first one being prepared in 1996.

This was revised around 2001, and again in 2006.

The 2006 version was first published in the publication Sustainable Man-agement of Brown Kiwi and Other Threatened Birds in Northland, R J Pierce, C Gardiner, H Moodie, H A Robinson and W Sporle, 2006, Wildland Consultants DOC Contract Report No 1193.

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