Saffron

Saffron was around one year old when she was banded in Arthur's Pass in early October 2023 outside the store. Saffron was named after a lovely girl who was helping the team with kea work the day the kea was banded. Unfortunately, Saffron the kea, along with a bunch of other mates, is a wee bit cheeky, having developed some very bad habits such as stealing food from customers at the cafe! Feeding kea is a no-no, and many people are starting to learn this now, but often the kea become so bold that they work together to find ways to grab food from people's plates! This puts them in direct danger because they spend a lot of time hanging around areas with human foods and waddling around near the road and many kea have been hit by cars in the area over the years. It takes everyone to care for kea, and one of the key things you can do is educate people about not feeding them and keep reporting sightings into the Kea Database so that we can collectively learn about their ecology, movements and lifespan and much more!