“When you start working with these birds, they get in your blood,” the head of the National Kiwi Hatchery says.
Her staff affectionately call her “The Bean”, but her real name is Emma Bean.
She’s the woman in charge of Rotorua’s National Kiwi Hatchery, but “The Bean” grew up in the UK, on the other side of the world. She didn’t know what a kiwi was until she arrived here on her OE.
“I turned up on the shores of New Zealand, thinking that I’d just be here for two years. I had my visitor visa, and I was lucky enough to start volunteering with kiwi.”
Within three months, the British-born conservationist had a job volunteering at the National Kiwi Hatchery, which was then the National Kiwi Recovery Trust.
That was 18 years ago. Now, she’s in charge after working her way through the ranks.
When she told friends and family back home that she was working to save kiwi, she was met with general confusion.
“I can remember telling a friend of mine that I was saving kiwi, and she was like, ‘What are you doing? I know you’re a vegetarian, but why are you devoting yourself to looking after a fruit?'”
The milestones
It’s been an incredible journey for Bean as the operation consistently reaches new milestones.
They’ve hatched more than 2500 kiwi eggs in the hatchery and recently opened a new custom-built facility.
“This is enabling us to amp up Operation Nest Egg to keep kiwi chicks safe when they’re most vulnerable.
“We’re able to stop limiting the number of eggs that projects bring to us. We’re doubling our hatching capacity at the new location.”
Bean admits that when the national hatchery started, they knew very little about how to hatch eggs successfully, but slowly, over almost two decades, they’ve learned a huge amount — learning that’s shared throughout programmes all over New Zealand.
In the nursery, a young 8-day-old kiwi gently perched on her lap; she patiently fed it one tiny piece of food at a time.
“It’s a balancing act of keeping him interested and encouraging him.”
It’s the kind of conversation a mother would have about her own newborn. But for Bean, it’s a kind of parental bond she’s always felt for all the animals she’s helped.
“I’ve chosen not to have children, but I guess this is where I have that maternal instinct.
“What else would you be doing other than dedicating yourself to a national bird?”
This is where she spends her time. The hatchery is her baby, but she’s quick to point out that for the largely female staff, it’s everyone’s baby.
Ninety-five per cent of eggs that arrive at the hatchery now survive to 1kg — the weight they need to reach to fend off most predators.
“In the wild, only 5% of kiwi chicks make it to adulthood.”
Dogs and ferrets still pose a major threat to larger birds, but kiwi numbers are growing due to trapping programmes and education.
“By helping save kiwi, we often have an impact in that forest; the predator control for kiwi helps all the other species as well.
“We’ve actually changed the threat status of kiwi, and now they are conservation dependent.”
Asked if not being a Kiwi makes her less qualified to lead the National Kiwi Hatchery, she laughed it off.
“It takes a village to raise a kiwi, and it doesn’t matter what nationality you are. We should all be saving kiwi.
“You know we’ve got myself, a Brit. We’ve got German, French, Sri Lankan, Canadian, and lots of nationalities on our team,” she said.
“There are so many pieces to this puzzle, and it really does take a village to save a kiwi, and that’s what I love. It’s everybody doing lots of different roles, all working hard to save this bird.”
Although the accent may still give it away, The Bean said she’s found her place in the world.
“This is home for me. I’m a Kiwi.”
