‘Outrage’ about keas

Press, 8 June 1985, Page 2

‘Outrage’ about keas

PA Wellington The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society is outraged at reports that Canterbury high-country farmers are using caged keas to lure wild keas in order to kill them. The society’s conservation officer, Mr Terry Fitzgibbon, said yesterday that the practice was a further ground for complete protection of the unique highcountry parrot. He called for more effective enforcement of the present fine of $l5OO for those who killed keas. Mr Fitzgibbon was

responding to reports that the owner of the Castle Hill station, Mr Max Smith, used “call keas” to attract wild keas into rifle range. "It is high time farmers stopped waging war on keas. No-one has ever produced eye-witness evidence of’ a kea attacking healthy sheep, and I suggest that is because so-called ‘killer’ keas do not exist,” Mr Fitzgibbon said. The reports said Mr Smith was killing about one kea a week. Mr Smith said that 30 to 40 sheep were sometimes attacked on a single night. Mr Fitzgibbon said it was

generally agreed that keas fed on sheep carcases, but the notion that a 50cm-long bird could kill a healthy sheep was “ludicrous”. “Between 1970 and 1980 about 150,000 keas were killed by humans. Worldwide this is one of the worst cases of bird destruction,” Mr Fitzgibbon said. The kea was also under threat from other quarters. “Vandals make capital out of their curiosity, and poachers export them dead or alive because they are considered unique,” he said. The kea is fully protected in national parks, forests, and reserves.