Chopper

'Chopper' is a special kea. He was banded in March 2019 at Arthur's Pass village along with several other young kea fledglings arriving in the area during what appears to be a bumper breeding season. Sadly, his life was very short-lived (<1 year). Like many other kea in this area, he is attracted to the village because there is abundant human food resources; as a result of this, they stay around in the village longer, hang about on roofs and cause trouble, chew lead nail heads and flashings (because they taste sweet to kea) and get lead toxicity, causing them to become sick with slow reaction times. They hang out in the road (a major state highway) and all too often are hit and killed by cars when they don't get away fast enough. Chopper is the sixth kea we know of to have been killed by a vehicle in the Arthur's Pass area within the year. Very very sad. Please ensure you never feed kea or do things to keep them attracted to human areas to ensure accidents like this stop happening.