Save the Kiwi
Looking after Kiwi and the forests they live in.
Will you help us save the kiwi?
Could we honestly call ourselves Kiwis if the kiwi were to die out? It’s a very real possibility. All five species of kiwi are endangered. Once numbering in the millions, our national population is now less than 70,000.
BNZ is answering the call
For nearly two decades, BNZ has been a passionate supporter in the kiwi’s fight for survival. The BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust is a partnership between the Department of Conservation, Forest & Bird and BNZ. Over time, this team effort has made genuine inroads into protecting the kiwi and its natural environment. However, to continue these successes, the Trust needs the support of Kiwis like yourself.
Switch to the Kiwi Eftpos card and join the cause
As a BNZ customer, helping save kiwi is easy. Simply switch your current BNZ Eftpos card to the Kiwi Eftpos card. You’ll enjoy all the same services and benefits, however, once a year, $10 will be debited from your account and donated to the BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust.
Not a BNZ customer? Open an account online and choose a Kiwi Eftpos card
You can simply get a BNZ Kiwi Eftpos card by opening a BNZ account online or at any of our stores. Just mention the Kiwi Eftpos card at the counter.
Did you know?
When you donate to the BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust, 100% goes towards kiwi work. BNZ pay 100% of the BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust’s operating costs, so all money raised goes straight to supporting kiwi and their natural environment.
The History of BNZ Save the Kiwi
The History of BNZ Save the Kiwi
BNZ have been helping the Department of Conservation to protect kiwi since 1991, when the Kiwi Recovery Programme was started. In the early days we didn’t know the answers to basic questions, such as how many kiwi we had left, where they lived, and what was threatening them. Funding from BNZ in the early years went to research to help answer those questions.
The most startling discovery was that only 5% of wild-laid eggs would hatch and grow to an adult kiwi. The main culprit: stoats. They prey on the young chicks and devour them before they have a chance to grow big enough to fend for themselves. From this discovery, BNZ Operation Nest Egg was born, and in 1994 trialled on the first kiwi egg. It is a simple but effective method where kiwi eggs are brought from the wild into a captive facility, hatched and then reared in a predator-free environment until reaching about 1kg in weight, when they are big enough to fend for themselves against stoats. At that point they are released back to the forest. Efforts to save kiwi have come a long way since 1991, shifting from research to a management phase. We now know what the threats are and we know how to control them – but we just need to do more of it, and do it smarter. And we realised that we needed help to do this.
In 2002, BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust was formed to help increase public awareness and support for kiwi, and to provide a way in which New Zealanders could get involved. BNZ’s connection to kiwi conservation is one of New Zealand’s longest environmental sponsorships.
