Threats to New Zealand pigeon/kererū

Possum in wineberry

Although still quite widespread in areas with large tracts of forest, its numbers are in gradual decline through habitat loss, predation, competition and illegal hunting.

Although the kererū was traditionally hunted for its meat and feathers, hunting of the bird is now illegal.

The most serious threat to the kererū comes from predators. Recent studies in several parts of the country have found that many nests produce no chicks at all. Rats, stoats, cats and possums eat their eggs and young.

Possums also compete with adult kererū for food (leaves, flowers, fruit) and devastate trees by consuming new shoots. Stoats and cats will attack and kill adult kererū. Forest clearance and poaching are also threats to its survival. Research by the Department of Conservation, Landcare Research, universities and other groups has found that the species is unlikely to cope with hunting pressure.

In Northland, the kūkupa is in danger of becoming locally extinct through the combined effects of predation, competition and continued hunting.

But if the kererū is under threat, so too are our native trees which depend on the kererū as a seed disperser. Fruit is its favourite food, and trees such as the karaka, taraire, tawa, miro and others depend on the kererū to carry their seeds to new areas of forest. The bird's extinction would be a disaster for our forests.