MENACE OF “KILLER” KEA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19376, 14 July 1937, Page 5

MENACE OF “KILLER” KEA

LOSSES AMONG SHEEP RAIDERS IN OTAGO (Special .0 the Herald.) DUNEDIN, this day. “The kea must cost farmers of the South Island thousands of pounds a year as a result of its attacks on sheep. There is no doubt that the bird is a ‘killer,’ and while it seems a pity that it should be destroyed, a man who owns a high country station has no alternative. I can speak ot its depredations from first-hand knowledge of what I have actually seen.’’

These statements were made yesterday by a man who has had long experience in the sheep country of the hinterland of Central Otago. The speaker went on to say that the kea not only attacks sheep for the sake of the iat that surrounds the kidneys, but flocks of “killer” keas will assail sheep at night, so that they become panic-stricken and dash themselves to death over the edges of steep gullies. Sheep attacked by keas suffered the greatest agony and the injuries inflicted by the birds were either a direct cause of death or produced blood poisoning from which the animal later died.

Another interesting point mentioned by the speaker was that not all the keas in a flock were “killers,” but perhaps - only one of them, and until that particular bird was destroyed the killing of sheep would continue. He added that the royalty payable to station hands on keas’ beaks was 7s 6d each, made up of 2s from the runholder, 2s from the county council and 3s 6d from the Government.