„Naughty“ Keas have their own playground so they don’t destroy the cars

Conservation projects

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The conservationists of St Arnaud, New Zealand, decided to a very unusual way how to lure the attention of Kea parrots (Nestor notabilis) away from the parked cars of local foresters. They have built for them a special playground with monkey bars so they prevent destructive character. Andrea Goodman from Kea Conservation Trust is in charge of this project. She works with people who have bad personal experience with Keas and gives some recommendation what to do.

Andrea works in this position only a few weeks and has spent them by finding an optimal place to build the mentioned playground. Finally, she decided to place it in St Arnaud where Keas behaviour means serious difficulties for foresters. Parrots usually destroy their equipment and cars. The project has become quite popular and several sponsors decided to support that.  The company Natureland, ZOO Wellington and Willowbank donated some material to build it. Information came from The Nelson Mail.
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The plaground was paid by sponsors

The playground is still monitored by cameras and motion detectors. That’s how we can be sure that Keas visit this place regularly. Aggrieved persons found their ways how to chase the parrots off. “The main thing is that people can give us a call if they do have issues,” said Goodman. She has lot of experience with this species. Her education includes masters in ecology and post graduate diploma in wildlife management. She even moved because of Kea parrots with whole family to Motueka Valley in St Arnaud.

Andrea Goodman is paid by Department of Conservation’s Community Conservation Partnerships Fund and Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. “Despite the damage that kea can cause, people generally have their best interests in mind. Kea are a special bird,” explained Andrea. There are about last 5000 Keas living on New Zealand. They are often considered as the most intelligent parrots. In the past, there were hundreds of thousands of these birds but they were chased by farmers who thought that these parrots kill their sheeps. That’s why Keas have become almost extinct . Now they are protected by law.

Title photo: wiki commons, © Tomas Sobek

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