Ti Ora has announced its new partnership with national charity, Kiwis for kiwi, to help reverse the current decline of kiwi and help them flourish in their natural habitat.

The partnership is the result of Ti Ora's pledge to the global ‘One per cent for the Planet' collective and will see Ti Ora invest part of this fund into Kiwis for kiwi.

'New Zealand's kiwi population is in rapid decline, with more than 27 kiwi dying every week in areas where predators aren't controlled. 200 years ago, millions of kiwi lived all through New Zealand. Now, it's estimated that there are fewer than 70,000 left,” says executive director of Kiwis for kiwi, Michelle Impey.

'Ti Ora's donations will specifically fund the monitoring of kiwi in the wild as part of our Saving the Kiwi Initiative. Over the next five years, this initiative will see our contractors fix transmitters to the legs of kiwi, so we can track them using an aerial and scanner, and monitor them until they have an egg which is close to hatching.

'We will collect the kiwi eggs from nests in the wild and incubate them in captivity, until the chicks are hatched and ready to be released to a kohanga site, usually a fenced sanctuary or an island. Once here, they will have the opportunity to grow safely, find a partner and breed in the wild for the remainder of their life.

'In areas where predators aren't controlled, 95 per cent of kiwi chicks hatched won't survive their first years of life. Our Saving the Kiwi initiative has the potential to reverse the decline of many North Island kiwi populations.

'By collecting the eggs, we ensure the chick has a good chance of survival, and at the same time we are creating a source population that will provide kiwi for release to the wild in perpetuity. If kiwi are given the chance to make it to adulthood they are highly productive birds. They live for over 50 years and can lay more than 1000 eggs in their lifetime,” says Michelle.

'The kiwi is loved and recognised globally as New Zealand's national icon,” says Ti Ora New Zealand marketing manager Michael Taylor.

'Ti Ora has recently expanded globally into the UK, Germany, Spain, Netherlands and Australia, so this is a fantastic opportunity to gain both national and international support for a New Zealand charity. We hope our partnership with Kiwis for kiwi will ignite a passion around the world to join in the fight to save our national icon.

'We have exciting plans in place to develop our partnership with Kiwis for kiwi to inspire people worldwide to get involved and ultimately save our kiwi,” says Michael.