No claimants yet for kea-killer reward

Press, 31 May 1985, Page 17

No claimants yet for kea-killer reward

By

KEN COATES

The debate over whether native keas attack and kill sheep continues as a Picton veterinarian, Alf Green, recalls that a reward he offered 30 years ago for evidence of killer keas has never been

claimed. Mr Green says he has spent 50 years in the South Island mountain country as a deer culler, tramper, musterer and, for a time, owner of a high country sheep run in the Hanmer district. He also practised for 35 years as a veterinary surgeon, and says: “The observation of animal life has been my hobby and profession, with special interest in the behaviour of the kea. “I have been shown sheep with open lesions and scars along their backs which have been attributed to kea injury,” he adds. The cause is not attacks by the alpine parrots, but a peculiarity of the breed of sheep. Merino and Merino cross are the predominant breeds on high country, and an undesirable characteristic of these animals is an open area along the mid line of the back, extending from the shoulder to loin, where the wool falls away on each side of the animal. This parting in the fleece has

been called “the devil’s grip” by Australian sheepmen, and it can cause the sheep problems. Sand, dust, sticks, and other detritus often collect in the open area on the sheep’s back, according to Mr Green, and if damp for a period cause a dermatitis. This is frequently followed by a fly strike, and consequent damage to the skin and tissues by maggots. “The skin adheres to deeper structures and the area appears as a wound. I have seen this condition often, and it is this which is presented to me as kea damage.” Sheep suffer this kind of damage all over the world, he adds, particularly in Australia “where Merinos predominate and where keas are confined to zoos.” Alf Green has covered the South Island high country on foot from Fiordland to Nelson, but in spite of many arguments and discussions with musterers, shearers, shooters, trampers, and farmers, he has never met anyone who has actually observed a kea attacking, “or even being remotely interested in a healthy sheep.” Plenty of hearsay evidence has

been put forward, but nothing factual. “The depredations of the kea, which I accept and have seen — namely the damaging of equipment and vehicles — occurs in the hours of daylight, so why should the sinister activity of sheep molestation be solely confined to the hours of darkness?” Today, few groups venture into the South Island back country witiiout a camera, says Mr Green, but the reward to anyone who can show him an authentic photograph of a kea attack on sheep still stands intact. While several people have come forward to add their claims to those which condemn the kea as a sheep killer, none has been able to give an eye-witness account. One man said that he and his companion were once attacked by keas and they took refuge under a vehicle. Mr Stuart Moore, a senior wildlife officer in Christchurch, says he has still received no information from high country farmers of where and when keas are attacking their sheep.