THE KEA

Otago Witness, Issue 3488, 18 January 1921, Page 12

THE KEA

PRICE ON IIIS HEAD. (From Oub Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, January 11. Last session Parliament voted sums of money on the estimates for the destruction of keas. Reports from the back-country

runs indicate that for some considerable :ime past the kea lias been on the increase, and that on some stations considerable numbers of sheep have been killed and others injured as the result either of his curiosity or his liking for the kidney fat of the sheep. A price of five shillings is ; now upon his head, and the money is being j paid out by the two departments'—viz., Lands and Agriculture, as both are interi ested. Hitherto the beaks of the killed birds have been collected by the county councils in the affected districts, and now stock inspectors, as well, will pay for beaks sent in to the Stock Department. In the Mount Cook district there was some objection by the Tourist Department to indiscriminate shooting, on account of the presence of the tliar and chamois in that region, so it has been arranged that officers of the Tourist Department should put on special men to keep the birds within bounds there. It seems a pity that it should be necessary to put a price upon

the head of this interesting and beautiful bird, but his recent depredations amongst the flocks in the ingh country have made it a matter of necessity. There are, however, fastnesses where the kea can still breed unmolested, so t here can be no danger of wiping the species out altogether.