The National Kiwi Centre — Attraction in South Island

Honestly just felt sad after visiting— for the animals and for the wallet... We're travelling up the West Coast on a road trip and thought (from the name of this place) that we would be visiting a genuine kiwi sanctuary focused on conservation efforts. Instead, we were horrified to find that it is actually mostly a sad, cruel aquarium in desperate need of a renovation. We found holes in walls, duct tape in places duct tape shouldn't be, and awful crawfish 'catch and release' and eel petting activities— which in my opinion are ethically fishy. The eel tank, while probably big enough, definitely does not simulate their natural environment sufficiently. The staff member giving the talk was friendly and knowledgeable, sharing with us that eels like to hide in cracks and dark places, but then proceeded to say how the giant eels even try to squeeze themselves into the small cracks of the cobble wall... there was a plastic human skeleton in the tank, and not much else. The smaller aquarium where the young eels were was also not great, with probably hundreds in quite a small tank— again barely any hiding spots. I'll take a second now to give all the other critters in tanks an honourable mention... they were barely moving and in small tanks full of plastic plants. Felt like they were there for no other reason than decoration. Lastly, the kiwi. We were perplexed to find out that the kiwi held here are North Island brown kiwi. While we do not want to make any extravagant assumptions about why this is the case, it is interesting that the website barely says anything about how they directly contribute to kiwi conservation, and how all the information about the kiwi exhibit just contains facts about the 3 groups endemic to the west coast, not the brown kiwi which they actually have at the centre. We find that strange... We got to see feeding time and noticed that food was placed onto metal plates for the kiwi to eat. While I did also see some foraging behaviour, I don't imagine feeding them on plates is good preparation for release into the wild. We visited another kiwi centre called the West Coast Wildlife Centre that works directly with operation nest egg and has contributed to the hatching and incubation of about 70% of the current wild rowi population and approx. 31% of the wild haast tokoeka kiwi population (2 of the endemic and rare west coast groups). I'd highly recommend visiting them for a unique kiwi...

Absolutely loved this place it shows the truth behind our New Zealand Wonders and national treasures great educated Staff warm and welcoming hut sadly (This place shows its age) and the significant impacts Covid and the lack of tourism has had on the space we are very blessed in New Zealand to have such beautiful places I wish we would have spent more time here however unfortunately there was an incident that required us to leave sooner than we would have liked this is a treasure trove of oppourtunity to teach and guide you through New Zealand wildlife and protect our native species. There's so much here to enjoy it can take form 30mins to really enjoying the whole day here eel feeding cray catching "catch and release" this area is especially important to keep a close eye on your children and those who are balance impaired read everything before entering this area. There is water and we are an island nation water safety is especially important in New Zealand. 1:1 ratio crucial. Some additional barriers would be a great safety improvement but aside from this the staff are amazing.and well knowledgeable you may find some sneaky critters in the wrong place haha. We spotted a freshwater cray in the goldfish tank as soon as we walked in. That was funny. We do hope to head back here and revel in the experience again. After our incident the staff member at the desk was more than amazing. And my daughter hasn't stopped wearing her wee green top since and hopes to come back. I think she's holding on to that memory. And they will have their wee kiwis and photos forever. Although it was an absolutely terrifying experience for our family. The staff made it all that more comfortable to feel life is all ok. I lived the eel feeding informative talk I thought I knew enough about eels living in Christchurch and often wandering along the Avon River and heading to Willow Bank. Feeding the eels but I didn't know that the females become sterile and re-absorb their eggs and stay in NZ instead of heading back to reproduce or that the male eels will poison themselves if they don't head away to breed. Amazing that would tell us that the 100+ year olds in the Avon would...

Seemed like all animals were very sad. Very small enclosures for every species of animals. The place boasts that you will see kiwis, which we did. However, the two kiwis were in a small dark enclosure with netting between the two of them. The first kiwi was frantically pacing up and down trying to get into the other side of the netting where the other kiwi was. This kiwi was tapping its beak and head aggressively at the window and ground around the edge of the enclosure, clearly trying to escape or just going mad. Nothing in this place showed any details or signs about how the two kiwis they have are looked after or any information on kiwi conservation or breeding programs to help prevent them from full extinction. It was a very sad place to be at. There was also a crayfish fishing area which people could catch and release crayfish. This just seemed blatantly cruel as any given day people are just pulling them out of the water and tossing them back in. There was also an eel feeding which didn’t seem very safe as there was kids going right up to the water of the tank who were little enough to just fall in. Overall the experience was...