Weka’s plight captivates thousands
The plight of a weka that had a festival-type plastic bracelet caught around its neck and beak captivated the city of Nelson over the weekend.
The bird, which was spotted darting about Tasman Bay’s Moturoa/Rabbit Island on Saturday morning tangled in a purple plastic bracelet, became a social media sensation, prompting a dogged group of half a dozen friends to set about catching it.
Betsy Blasdale saw a picture of the bird on Facebook and raced out to Rabbit Island on Saturday afternoon with her partner and parents in tow. But catching a nervous, fast-moving weka proved no easy task. After spending two hours trying to corner the creature, the Blasdales decided to call it a day. Returning at 10.30am on Sunday, they enlisted the help of friends Trudi and Russell Black and set up a line of nets around the bird to stop it from rushing into the bushes.
As one person approached, the weka bolted into a see-through gardening net. Fearing its wing was caught, one member of the group loosened their grip.
“The weka slipped out, and then my dad caught it just in time,” Betsy said.
The operation was a “big success”. After the plastic was cut off and he was released, the plucky bird made a run for the bushes, re-emerging a few minutes later for some wet cat food of the beefy variety.
“We knew he was OK by that point,” Betsy said. She was unsure as to whether the tape was put on the bird deliberately, or if he managed to entangle himself by poking around in rubbish.
To prevent further such incidents, one of the group contacted the outdoor activity business that uses the bands and asked it to switch to paper. The business, which the rescuers chose not to name, was understood to be looking at alternatives.
For their efforts, the group members were rewarded not just with a happy, liberated fowl, but also with an outpouring of appreciation and gratitude online from members of the community, some of whom said they’d spent the weekend thinking about the weka’s predicament.
“What a great ending to that story that had everybody invested,” one man wrote.
“Good to see people actually care about our wildlife and actually don’t wait days on end to do something about it,” another commented.
The Department of Conservation’s Nelson operations manager, Chris Golding, said DOC was contacted late on Saturday morning and told that a weka had an elastic band around its beak but was still running around freely.
A DOC ranger went to Rabbit Island in the afternoon but was unable to locate the weka.
“It’s not uncommon for us to get callouts and when we arrive find that the wildlife has disappeared, particularly if they are not injured,” Golding said.
The ranger spoke with people who had been on the island throughout the day, who told him the weka was still able to eat and drink, which was reassuring.
The ranger returned to Rabbit Island on the Sunday having received another report of the weka still with the band. He could not find the bird and later learnt the band had been successfully removed.
Golding said DOC would like to thank those who contacted the department.
“We ask people who find sick, injured wildlife to contact DOC and provide as much information as they can – where and when – and, if possible, photos.”