So New Zealand's government agencies have partnered with local communities, nonprofit groups like Save the Kiwi and commercial operations like the Willowbank reserve, to tackle the problem by trying to protect the kiwi until they have a better chance of defending themselves.
The plan, called Operation Nest Egg, is simple in conception but difficult to execute.
Eggs are taken from kiwi nests in the wild and incubated in places like Willowbank. Newly hatched chicks are then taken to protected areas, many of them on isolated islands off the coast without predators, for about a year until they are big enough to fend for themselves. Then they are returned to the place their egg was found.
The program began in 1994, but it has taken a while to perfect the process. It is expected to pass something of a milestone early next year when it hatches its 1,000th chick.
McLennan says each chick that is returned to the wild costs about US$2,750, a reflection of the difficulty in getting the eggs.
The remaining kiwis tend to live in remote corners of New Zealand, and each pair of birds - they remain monogamous for life - controls a territory ranging from 5 to 40.5 hectares, making it extremely difficult to find the nests.
The egg collectors travel with a "kiwi caller," who can imitate the call of a male kiwi, or sometimes a tape recorder. Male kiwis incubate the eggs, an evolutionary necessity because females lay eggs as large as 30 percent of their body weight and need time to recover.
When the males run out to chase off the intruders, the collectors can trace them back to the nest and take the egg to places like Willowbank.
Maguire says the chicks seem to suffer few ill effects from not being brought up by their parents and seem to thrive on their return to the wild.
After a slow start, Operation Nest Egg is picking up momentum. Its success rate is rising, and similar programs are starting throughout the country.
McLennan is cautiously optimistic that Operation Nest Egg will stem the decline.
"Because the rates of decline are relatively low at 2 to 5 percent, you don't have to add many birds back into the population to make it break even," he said.
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