Broken-legged kea having R&R at Tahunanui's Natureland

A kea is clawing its way back to full health with the help of Tahunanui's Natureland, having been discovered with a broken leg in a local forestry block.

The native parrot was found on Thursday by staff from Tasman Pine Forests Ltd who notified the Department of Conservation (DOC) they'd spotted a young kea near their site which appeared to have an injured leg.

DOC's local kea expert, Corey Mosen, managed to capture the bird on Friday morning and it was taken to Halifax Veterinary Centre, which works closely with Natureland Wildlife Trust in the care and treatment of native wildlife. 

Trust director Meg Rutledge said thankfully the break wasn't too severe and didn't require surgery, so the bird had been moved to Natureland for some "rest and relaxation". 

"He's doing really really well," she said.

"He's actually been upgraded to a larger habitat already even though he's supposed to be on rest, just because he is young and active and so we put him outside so he's got more to look at than the indoor area."

Rutledge said the vet had predicted it could be anywhere between a month to two months before the young bird could be released back into the wild.

"Because he is a young bird and active, the heal time could actually be longer rather than shorter because it's hard to tell an animal to rest and not move."

He wasn't being given many opportunities to be up high perching with a grip, in a bid to encourage him to rest his leg and allow the fracture to heal.

The bird would then have specific rehabilitation to "getting the fitness back for the grip strength" to perch on his feet all day long.

He would also have lost some of his flight-related muscles so would need to build up his strength again for the flight fitness he needed.

"It's important to any bird but kea go above forest altitude so they really need that strength and fitness to get the soaring height and then come back down."

The young bird's leg would be assessed again by Halifax Veterinary Centre to ensure it had healed properly and didn't have any complications arising from scar tissue.

Natureland would be responsible for testing the fitness and natural behaviours were back up to scratch.

The bird would also be screened for any diseases before it was released back into the wild.

Rutledge said it was great the forestry companies were keeping an eye out for kea.

"In this case, their proximity to the forestry team may have helped contribute to this bird's survival," she said.

"The forest blocks that act as buffers between the national parks in Tasman are proving to be valuable sites for young kea to play and learn."

She said the "young patient" was very special to the future of his species and the teamwork it took by a number of people to ensure he got medical attention was "heartening for the future of kea conservation".