New Zealand store pulls kiwi chew toys after conservation backlash

WELLINGTON: A New Zealand chain store has pulled festive kiwi-shaped canine chew toys from sale, after backlash from conservationists trying to save the endangered bird.

There are fewer than 70,000 kiwis left in New Zealand, according to official figures, and dogs are one of the main killers of adult birds in the wild.

Hardware chain Mitre 10 has agreed to stop selling the Christmas-themed kiwi chew toys -- complete with red Santa hats -- after complaints from conservationists.

"We're really fighting hard to keep kiwi safe from a number of pests and predators out there and one of which can be a roaming dog or a feral dog," Save the Kiwi chief executive Michelle Impey told AFP on Friday.

"To promote that it's okay for a dog to have a kiwi in its mouth isn't the right message we want to be sending to dog owners," she added. "It's the optics of it."

The national kiwi population has been declining by around two percent each year.