SLAUGHTER BY KEAS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 26 July 1929, Page 2

SLAUGHTER BY KEAS

SHEEP CAUGHT IN SNOW MANY ANIMALS KILLED STATION OWNER'S EXPERIENCE HEAVY LOSSES IN HIGH COUNTRY An interest ing lci-ler dealing with the slaughter of sheep hy hens, especially in higli country, has been received by Mr \V. H. Nicholson, secretary of [he CanIcrbury Shecpowners’ Union, from Mr Bruce’ Murray, owner of Goilley Peaks Station, hake Te Kapo. Mr Nicholson said that the executive of the Sheepowners’ Union felt that the only explanation of the Government's action in reducing the price for kens’ heads was its desire to economise. It is felt that |he Minister of Agriculture is too practical a- man to ignore the necessity for dealing with this pest, not only in the interests of sheepowners oik high country, hut in the l interests of the Government-/ itself, which is the landlord of the high country where the damage by kea.M is (lone. "On. 25th June,” states Mr Murray, “we had a very heavy fall of snow up the Goilley from the west, and owing to heavy winds causing drifts and tlio fact that it had been an open winter we had a fair amount of snow raking to do. 1 have two huts up the Goilley and two shepherds stay in each hut during tlie 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. ’I wo shepherds were working on Kea Gully. Owing to the depth of snow theyvwere unable to get the sheep on to dear 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 and one or two were still alive, but so injured that JLhey had to he 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 kea 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 sheep's hack, 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 1 am giving them 10s per head. If I were asked how many sheep 1 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 kea. 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 Goilley 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 I lie 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.”