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New Zealand is known world-wide for its breath taking scenery and safety in the bush. There are few countries in the world where you can wander through the bush with no dangerous species lurking in the depths. However beneath the majestic Southern Alps, there lurks a killer, which has become a deadly threat.
On a 20,000 ha high-country sheep station, next to the Mt Cook national park, Ross Ivey, now looks over his shoulder in fear, as he rides across his property. A rogue Killer Parrot is on the loose, which prefers its food live. Not so long ago Ross found one of his sheep dead from blood poisoning. The killer kea had eaten through the skin of the sheep and taken a kidney.
The kea, one of the few alpine parrots in the world, has been classed as a protected species only since 1986. There are only around 1000 to 5000 birds left, all living in the Alps in the high-country of the South Island of New Zealand.
"Kea attacks have long been a part of high-country life for the farmers", said Federated Farmers high country spokesman, Donald Aubrey.
Keas are often described as 'cheeky' as they are extremely mischievous and inquisitive by nature. Tests have shown they are capable of solving logical puzzles, such as pulling, or moving objects, so they can get to food. They have been seen to work in teams, in order to arrive at a certain objective. Keas are frequently found to pick the rubber seal from around windshields on parked cars. They are the most intelligent of the bird species.
Farmers, at one time, could protect their flocks of sheep by shooting rogue keas, but this they can no longer do. The Killer Parrot knows this and squawks in loud raucous glee. It has acres and acres of live-meals-on-
There are suggestions that the only solution to this feathered predicament, is to catch the Killer Parrot and transfer it somewhere else. However Ross Ivey says, "The intelligence of the Killer Parrot and the ruggedness of the terrain, is more than likely to work against us. The kea will simply find its way back to its living food, no matter how far away it is transported"
The high-country farmers are destined to have to live with the problem and keep an alert eye on their flocks, until a solution has been found.
Dr Wendy and her husband are CEO's of YouMe Support Foundation, (http://youmesupport.org), providing high school education grants to kids who will never have the opportunity for an education without outside assistance. You can find out for more information at Win a Resort, (http://winaresort.com).
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
