THE KEA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20704, 30 April 1929, Page 9

THE KEA.

' TO THE EDITOB. *■lls, —Will you allow me to put in an additional plea for the preservation of our mountain parrot? I have just returned from a month’s holiday in South Westland, coming back to Canterbury and Dunedin by way of the Copland Pass. At the entrance to the Copland Valley I talked to a settley who has always lived in that district, and who runs large herds of cattle and sheep on the river beds. He told me that recently many hundreds of keas have ben slaughtered in the Copland Valley by persons greedy for their price, though, as he further added, “no kea in that neighbourhood has ever been known to kill a single sheep.” He was greatly surprised when I said that I would far rather give £lO towards keeping keas alive than be paid £lO for their bemrs.

In other years keas have been calling rounnd the Glacier Hotel at Waiho Gorge, to tie delight and amusement of visitors from all over the world. This year not one was heard or seen. Even at the mountain huts there are very few keas to welcome the climber, but we found weasel tracks in the snow, above the Fox Glacier, at between 4000 feet and 5000 feet. Our native birds are unique in the world. May not taxpayers be allowed to help to preserve them rather than exterminate them?—l am, etc.. Taxpayer. Dunedin, April 27.

TQ THE EDITOR. Sir, — 1 have been interested in reading your correspondent’s defence of the kea and note that “G. 5.,” in your issue of this morning, says that the evidence against the kea is far from conclusive. For years I was working amongst the high country stations between Lakes Wakatipu, Mavora, and Te Anau, and for three successive seasons kept a boundary at the head of Lake Mavora, which i? well known to those familiar with that country as the home of large numbers of keas. During one week there were no fewer than 38 sheep destroyed 'by the kea in a small area between Westburn Creek and the head of Lake Mavora, and as the sheep die slowly, practically all of them gravitated to the beach of the lake. Another year, in company with an old shepherd, I was driving a mob of about 2000 wethers over the Balmoral Range, and we lost no fewer than 11 sheep in one day, and actually saw the keas on the backs of the sheep. There is a widespread belief that the kea will only take the kidney fat, but that is not the case, as he will strip the fat and flesh at the shoulder or any part of the back where be happens to light. While I have a great deal of admiration for these beautiful and friendlybirds, I have often enticed them within a few feet of me by rattling a tin matchbox. There is no doubt in my mind that the kea is a deadly enemy of the high country sheep, and during the course of a year the combined losses of - the Lakes’ runholdera must run into thousands ot sheep. Any man of any experience in the Lakes country will verify these statements, as practically, every basin in the mountains contains evidence in the shape of dead sheep with the mark of the kea on their backs.—l ,am, etc., s Alexandra, April 20.