‘Hard to say’ why Kea’s numbers on the rise

The average size of the herd in the BRUN Malte area in 2024 was twice that it was seen two years earlier.

Working in the area to get rid of skunks, stones and other pests on thousands of hectares were made by the Tem Manahuna Araki project – part of invasive zero.

Initial elimination operations were performed at 30,000H in the Alpine Zone and 4000ha in the dry lands/Tussock farms.

The project expects to increase to about 300,000ha in the long run.

Nick Foster, the technical leader of the project Te Manahuna Araki, told RNZ’s Nine in half Program, it was difficult to determine the exact increase of the numbers “, but the numbers we started are trying to have increased significantly in the last two years.”

“The first two years were quite constant and in 2024 we had this very significant jump and this was kind of corroborated with observations from local managers and hunters.”

Foster said this year’s numbers – so far – have been even higher and even benefited many other animals and plants.

“We know it’s good news, but it’s really hard to assign any cause. It’s really hard to say why we have more Kea now.”

Foster said there was a possibility that Kea dos Alps could be migrating to the BRUN Malte area, where the pests were being eradicated. To research and get a number of parrots in an area, they spread the carcasses.

“We divide our research periods into periods that we are confident that we do not double people double … So, basically, the average of this, we do it for a long period of time and compare between years. This is the short answer.”

It was also a steep learning curve, finding out how to navigate the ground, said Foster.

“The Malte Brun mountain range is very robust, visited only by climbers and occasional hunters.

“In fact, it is one of the reasons why we chose to start here, if we will succeed in eradicating New Zealand pests, we will have to address these areas sooner or later.

“It was an opportunity to learn very quickly how, you know, to work around glaciers, how to stay safe around cliffs and areas of rock fall and curse in winter, there are risks of avalanche, it has been a really steep learning curve in the last two years, for sure.”

The pests being the target of the project include skunks, stones, furons, wild cats, hedgehogs, rabbits/bass and Norway rats.