Save the kiwi bird: Michaela Strachan on how you can help

Want to make a difference? Discover how you can join Old Mout Cider in the fight to protect New Zealand’s national icon from extinction

There's a bird indigenous to New Zealand whose ancestors were dinosaurs. Ancient and flightless, and having evolved over the past 50 million years in relative isolation, it is unlike any other bird.

In fact, it has many mammal-like qualities: nostrils at the end of its beak and feathers that resemble hair. Its name is the kiwi. And in 50 years time, it may no longer exist.

Up until the 13th century, there were just three mammals — all species of bat — endemic to New Zealand. But with the arrival of man came many more, and in the centuries that have followed, their presence has largely contributed to the rapid decline of the kiwi. Over the past 80 years, the kiwi population has decreased by 99 per cent.

This is the problem facing New Zealand today, and one which the Kiwis for kiwi conservation charity is keen to battle.

In doing so, it has devised a game-changing initiative: the creation of predator-free islands on which this remarkable species can flourish as it once did.

Michaela Strachan sees how Kiwis for kiwi is helping increase numbers of New Zealand's national icon

But this incredible and monumental undertaking cannot be accomplished alone. That’s why Old Mout Cider is determined to help.

The popular New Zealand brand has teamed up with Kiwis for kiwi to support and promote this extraordinary mission, encouraging nature lovers around the globe — and especially in the UK — to get behind the cause. To that end, for each person who signs up to the mission, Old Mout Cider will donate 20p to the charity. This means you can make a difference simply by signing up.

And that’s not all. Old Mout Cider has also collaborated with wildlife expert Michaela Strachan to produce a short documentary called A Forgotten World. The film follows the TV presenter as she travels to New Zealand’s Kapiti Island — an isolated paradise for endangered birds that mirrors the prehistoric habitat that once allowed the kiwi to thrive. There, she sees first-hand the astonishing impact predator-free islands have already had on the kiwi. Current survival rate in the wild stands at one in 20. On the islands, that number rises to 14 in 20, proving this inspiring project is working.

“I hope this film helps people understand just how precious the kiwi’s history is, and more importantly how its future is hanging in the balance,” says Strachan.

“Let’s not be the generation that says goodbye to species, but be the generation that rallies together to look after our environment.”

So join Old Mout Cider and Kiwis for kiwi on their quest to rescue this extraordinary creature by signing up today. Man is responsible for the kiwi’s decline; we have a duty to save it.

Sign up below to help save the kiwi

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*This content was commissioned and approved by Old Mout Cider