Brewery looks after feathered namesake

A brewery named after one of the country’s best known birds is doing its bit to help protect its feathered mascot.

Kereru¯ Brewing, from Upper Hutt, is trialling its own anti window strike stickers in an effort to curb kereru¯ injury and mortality from collisons with windows. The stickers reflect ultraviolet light - that can be seen by birds, to help them identify a window before they fly into it.

Proceeds from the ‘‘Bird Alert’’ stickers go towards Dunedin based conservation programme Project Kereru which is dedicated to the rehabilitation and release of New Zealand’s native pigeon. About 60 to 80 birds come into their care each year.

Kereru¯ head brewer and director Chris Mills said the decision to help out the birds was a no-brainer.

‘‘You can’t have the kereru¯ and use it as a mascot without supporting it. We wanted to give something back - to specifically look after the brewery’s mascot.’’

He decided to produce the stickers after seeing the cost of similar products imported from overseas.

Similar decals from an American company cost $15 for a pack of four or five where as the brewery is selling packs of five stickersfor $6 and has also been distributing the stickers in boxes of beer. The brewery had raised more than $170 for Project Kereru in the first week of the trial.

Project Kereru co-ordinator Nik Hurring said she was glad to see the brewery taking an active part in conservation efforts.

Window strike, Hurring said, was a major problem and having locally sourced UV reflective stickers would mean there was no delay in the supply chain.

Statistics from Wellington Zoo’s animal hospital, The Nest Te Ko¯hanga, showed 61 native birds had been treated there for window strike injuries since July 2016, 48 of which were kereru¯.

Although the SPCA did not keep specific numbers for birds they treated for window strike, the organisation’s Wellington veterinary practice manager, Adele Hawkswell, said it was not uncommon to see kereru¯ which had been affected by window strike brought into the SPCA – ‘‘in fact, these are perhaps one of the most common species of birds that we see for this’’.