Taste for lead killing kea
The number of kea eating nails and getting lead poisoning in Arthur’s Pass could be reduced if people stop feeding them.
The birds have been eating roof nails made of lead which makes them sick and can kill them.
Kea Conservation Trust community engagement co-ordinator Dr Laura Young said the lure of human food brought kea into the Arthur’s Pass township. The birds would then find the nails on roofs.
‘‘It’s their curiosity that gets the better of them,’’ she said.
‘‘They like to stand on the roofs and pick on the lead because it’s really sweet to them, then they get really sick.
‘‘People definitely need to stop feeding them,’’ she said.
In a recent survey by the Kea Conservation Trust, more than 90 per cent of male fledglings seen around the pass tested positive for blood lead poisoning.
Young said seven kea in the area had died in the past two months. Two of the deaths were due to starvation through lead poisoning, three were likely hit by vehicles, and two were unconfirmed.
Lead poisoning as a cause of death was difficult to identify, but it could lead to poor movement, meaning they wouldn’t be able to respond to a moving car and couldn’t feed properly.
Lead ammunition harm kea.
‘‘They go to the point of entry where the bullet hole is to feed on the carcass,’’ Young said.
The trust tested the blood of 79 kea in Arthur’s Pass and nearby areas. Of those, 33 returned high lead levels.
Kea caught less than 10 kilometres of the Arthur’s Pass village generally tested high for lead.
Young male kea, particularly fledglings, had high lead levels with over 90 per cent of the 11 male fledglings and over 70 per cent of the 15 male juveniles returning very high blood lead level results.
Elsewhere, a fledgling female near Fiordland’s Homer Tunnel had an extremely high level of lead.
Kea found with lead poisoning are taken to Christchurch’s South Island Wildlife Hospital. Most kea respond well to treatment and are let back into the wild.
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