SLAUGHTER BY KEAS

Taranaki Daily News, 25 July 1929, Page 14

SLAUGHTER BY KEAS

SHEEP CAUGHT IN SNOW MANY ANIMALS KILLED. HEAVY LOSSES IN HIGH COUNTRY. Christchurch, July 23. An interesting letter dealing with the slaughter of sheep by keas, especially in high country, has been received by Mr. W. H. Nicholson, secretary of the Canterbury Sheepowners’ Union, from Air. Bruce Murray, owner of Godley Peaks Station, Lake Te Kapo. Air. Nicholson said that the executive of the Sheepowners’ Union felt that the only explanation of the Government's action in reducing the price for keas’ heads was its desire to economise. It is felt that the Minister of Agriculture is too practical a man to ignore the necessitly for dealing with this pest, not only in the interests of sheepouners on high country, but in the interests of the Government itself, which is the landlord of the high country where the damage by keas is done. “On June 25,” states Air. Murray, “we had a very heavy fall of snow up the Godley from the west, and owing to heavy winds causing drifts and the fact that it had been an open winter we had a fair amount of snow raking to do. I have two huts up the Godley and two shepherds stay in each hut during the winter. NINE BIRDS ATTACKING MOB. “It was while snow raking 4000 Merino wethers that we saw the kea at work. It was in a gully called Kea Gully that they were doing most killing. Two shepherds were working Kea Gully. Owing to the depth of snow they were unable to get the sheep on to clear country in one day, and so they left them in the snow for the night. On going up the hill next morning they saw keas attacking a mob of 200 sheep. It appears there were about nine keas at work. The shepherds found that 20 sheep had been killed ahd one or two were still alive, but so injured that they had to be destroyed at once. “All along the facing were small mobs of sheep with one or two dead sheep in each. I was working with another man at the south end of the block, and while going up a spur we saw a kga attacking a single sheep. By the time we got up to it there was a piece of skin about six inches square hanging from the eeepe’s back, but luckily we were in time to save the sheep’s life.

TEN SHILLINGS A HEAD FOR KEAS.

‘The two men at the top hut are now spending the time hunting keas and I am giving them 10s per head. If I were asked how many sheep I lost through this last snow I should say about 20 or 30, although we only saw about six sheep dead owing to the drifts, and we actually saw about 50 that had been killed by keas.” Mr. Murray adds that the kea kills most in heavy snow and in early spring when there is a shortage of berries. For every sheep that one sees dead there are twenty that are not seen. A lot of sheep thought to have been killed by falling over rocks had been put over these rocks by the keas. Mr. Murray had seen sheep pursued by a kea dashed to pieces in a mad leap over rocks. Mr. Murray estimates the loss by keas on Godley peaks during the past eight years at 2000 sheep, or 250 a year, and the loss on high country in the Mackenzie at thousands. “I have, noticed several letters in the papers of late written by people who think that keas do not kill,” concludes Mr. Murray. “I wish they had been up here during this last snow.”