The 65-year-old has been raising the flightless birds at the back of her nearly 1ha property in Northeast Valley for seven years.
But, earlier this year, she — like her neighbour Jenny Findlater — was forced to evacuate her home at 51 Montague St after a massive landslip on July 22.
A second slip followed on September 18 during another bout of heavy rain.
Ms Milliken said the slip damage meant her two ostriches, Mabel and Myrtle, were unable to roam her section or sleep outside on the driveway.
She had to move them to the back of her property, where they were contained by a deer fence and a large farm gate.
They still had a small orchard to roam in, and a shed to sleep in, she said.
Ms Milliken’s house was given a dangerous-building notice by the Dunedin City Council, and a second one in September, but she has since been allowed to move back into one part of the house.
She had also lodged claims with the Earthquake Commission and Lumley Insurance, but was still waiting for settlements, and had been told the clean-up bill could reach $200,000.
Lumley told her it had no jurisdiction over her claim and referred it to the Earthquake Commission, she said.
An EQC assessor and geotechnician had visited, but their report concluded there was no imminent risk to her house from the slips.
A spokeswoman for IAG, which owns Lumley, said there was no physical damage to Ms Milliken’s home, and land damage was "not insured by IAG".
Ms Milliken took issue with the EQC’s efforts, saying its geotechnician had not even gone down the hill.
But, as the stressful process dragged on, there was at least one cause for hope — Mabel and Myrtle were still laying eggs, she said.
"They are doing OK. They just like to have free range, but they can’t."
- Julie Howard
