Kea - Threats and Conservation

Threats and Conservation

Together with local councils and runholders, the New Zealand government paid a bounty for Kea bills because the bird preyed upon livestock, mainly sheep. It was intended that hunters would kill Kea only on the farms and council areas that paid the bounty, but some hunted them in national parks and in Westland, where they were officially protected. More than 150,000 were killed in the hundred years before 1970, when the bounty was lifted. In the 1970s, the Kea received partial protection after a census counted only 5000 birds. The government agreed to investigate any reports of problem birds and have them removed from the land. It was not until 1986 that it was given full protection under the Wildlife Act 1953.

A study of Kea numbers in Nelson Lakes National Park showed a substantial decline in the population between 1999 and 2009, caused primarily by predation of Kea eggs and chicks. Video cameras set up to monitor Kea nests in South Westland have confirmed that possums do kill Kea fledglings.

Lead poisoning (mostly from building materials) is also a significant cause of premature deaths among Kea. Research on lead toxicity in Kea living at Aoraki/Mount Cook found that of 38 live Kea tested all were found to have detectable blood lead levels, 26 considered dangerously high. Additional analysis of 15 dead Kea sent to Massey University for diagnostic pathology between 1991 and 1997 found nine to have lead blood levels consistent with causing death. Research conducted by Victoria University in 2008 confirmed that the natural curiosity of Kea which has enabled the species to adapt to its extreme environment, may increase its propensity to poisoning through ingestion of lead – i.e. the more investigative behaviours identified in a bird the higher its blood lead levels were likely to be.

Toxins used to control invasive pest mammals such as stoats and possums have also been implicated in Kea deaths. For example, seven Kea were found dead following an aerial possum control operation at Fox Glacier in July 2008 and a further seven in August 2011, following an aerial possum control operation in Ōkārito Forest. Traps are also considered a risk to Kea. In September 2011, hidden cameras caught Kea breaking into baited stoat traps in the Matukituki Valley. More than 75% of the traps had been sprung.

Despite being classified as Nationally Endangered in the New Zealand Threat Classification System and Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List and protected by law, Kea are still deliberately shot. For example, in the late 1990s, a Fox Glacier resident killed 33 Kea in the glacier car park and in 2008, two Kea were shot in Arthur's Pass and stapled to a sign.