KEA MENACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 221, 19 September 1938, Page 11

KEA MENACE.

RUN-HOLDERS' LOSSES. ATTACKS ON THE FLOCKS. £1 A HEAD IS OFFERED. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Despite the fact that a price of 7/6 a head was placed on keas before the Labour Government came into office— and the offer still stands to-day—there is no sign of the menace being eliminated. Reports from Bheep stations in the high country beyond Springfield indicate that run-holders are still experiencing heavy losses from kea attacks on their stock.

At High Peak, for instance, the station manager estimates losses from kea attacks at three hundred a year from a flock of about seven thousand sheej>.

So serious is the kea menace that offers of £1 a head for old birds, which are regarded as the killers, are being made by station managers.

"Such reports," said Mr. W. H. Nicholson, secretary of the New Zealand Sheepowners' Union, "show that it is still necessary for run-holders to maintain tlie utmost vigilance in the protection of their stork. During muster time in the affected areas it is part of the shepherds' programme to go out armed with rifles in search of the dreaded keas, shepherds being allowed a bonus on their wages for all keas killed."

Apart from the alarming reports from the High Peak station it is stated that the Benmore station, which is also on the north side of the Selwyn River but near Springfield, ia being raided by keas continuously.