THE DESTRUCTIVE KEA

Hokitika Guardian, 27 July 1929, Page 2

THE DESTRUCTIVE KEA

FIRST-HAND EVIDENCE. A RUN-HOLDER’S"EXPERIENCE

CHRISTCHURCH, July 23,

An interesting letter dealing with the slaughter of sheep by keas, especially in high country, has been received by Mr Nicholson (secretary of the Canterbury Sheep Owners’ Union) from Mr B^uce:, Murray, owner of Godley Peaks Lake Tekapo.

Mr Nicholson said that the executive of the Sheepowners’ Union felt that the only explanation of; the , Government’s action in reducing for keas’ heads was its desire to economise. “It is felt,” he added, “that the Minister of Agriculture is too practical a man to ignore l the necessity for dealing with the pest, hot only in. the interests of sheep, owners on. high country, but in the interests of j.the Government itself, ,which is the landlord of the high country where the damage by keas is done. The work of the! kea does not affect the small farmer on low country where the conditions, except in rare cases, are not nearly so severe as on tlit' high.mountainous country.” “<Jn \J,une 26th.” states Mr Murray, “we had; a very heavy fall of snow up the Gudley .from, the west, and, owing to heavy winds Causing drifts and the fact' that'it. had been an .open winter up till the 25th. we had a fair amount of . f mow-raking out of dark facings and high; up,the spurs. I have two huts up :the Godley, and two shepherds stay in each hut during the winter. It was while snow-raking 4000 merino 'wothers that we saw the kea at work. It was in a gully called Kea Gully that they were doing most of the killing. Owing to snow-raking the hoggets, etc,, we were unable to start the wothers. until July 2nd., which meant that the wethers that had been caught were standing in snow from eight to 10 days before we released them on to the sunny spurs. “Now I come to the main point—the keas. Two shepherds were working on Ivea Gully, and, owing to the depth of the snow, they were unable to get the sheep on to black country in one day, so they left them in the snow for the night. On going up the hill the net morning they saw keas attacking this mob of 200 sheep. . There were about nine keas-at work, and the shepherds found "that 20 3beep had been killed and one or two were still aiive with half of their intestines exposed. Their-throats r were cut 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 koa attacking a singb sheep, By the time wo got up to it there was a piece of skin about six inches square hanging from the sheep’s back, but luckily we were in time to save it 3 life. The two men at the top hut are now spending theiv time hunting "keas, and I am giving them 10s a 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 drifts, and about 50 killed by keas. These latter were actually seen.”

Mr Murray adds that the hea hills most in heavy snow, and in the early spring when there is a shortage of berries, and that for every sheep that one sees dead there are 20 that are not seen. The musterers and highcountry shepherds are mostly on the hills at tynes when the keas are not very destructive to sheep. A lot of 'sheep thought to have been killed by falling over rocks had been put over these rocks by the kea. He had seen, a sheep pursued by a kea dashed to pieces in a mad leap over rocks. He estimates the loss by keas on Godley Peaks during the past eight years at 2000 sheep, or 250 per 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 the kea does not kill,” concludes Mx Murray. ‘‘l wish they had been up here during this last fcnow.”