Letter to Tahi

We read a true story about Tahi, a Kiwi who had his leg amputated because he got it caught in a gin trap. He was rescued and eventually a new leg was made for him by Weta Workshop. He now lives in Wellington Zoo. We decided to write letters to him to ask what it was like in the zoo and what we could do to help Kiwi.

We were very excited today when we recieved a letter back from Tahi and the Zoo keepers! We also got photos of Tahi with our photo and letters.

Emily says “I think it was exciting that we got letters and photos from Tahi”

Maddison says “Getting letters and photos from Tahi was very special”

Casey says “I liked it when they sent back the photos of Tahi and he got to see our letters”

Here is a copy of the letter sent to us from the zoo:

“
To Kahukura at Ohope Beach School,

Thank you for all your lovely letters and questions to Tahi. It’s so exciting that you really like kiwi and want to learn about them.

Tahi likes living here at Wellington Zoo, it is his new home. Tahi does things here that he would have done in the bush like, looking for food, sleeping, and guarding his home. He even does a few things different like coming out to meet everybody that comes to see him. He sleeps during the day and comes out at night, when it is dark. He doesn’t spend the whole night out but, he will spend some of it out looking around. In the morning he has a yummy hamburger for breakfast, it has mince, carrots, peas, raisins and sometimes even banana in it, but it hasn’t been cooked.

Our pet cats at home can be a problem for kiwi like Tahi in the wild, but one thing you can do to help is to keep you cat inside at night. This way your cat gets a comfy bed to sleep in and no kiwi will get hurt.

If you ever come to Wellington, please come to the zoo to see Tahi. He comes out everyday to meet people and would love to meet you. If you don’t come down to Wellington you can always go visit kiwi in a sanctuary near where you live.

Thank you again for your lovely letters.

From Katie

Kiwi Handler and Zoo Guide”

Here are the photos of Tahi and our letters and class photo….