For sale: one endangered kea, but beyond the border it's completely legal

Wednesday, 8 July 2020

The cherished kea is clinging to survival, with only a few thousand left in New Zealand.

But for $25,000, collectors can buy one of the cheeky mountain parrots from a Japanese cafe.

Although the kea is internationally recognised as endangered, the sale is perfectly legal.

And officials say there is little they can do to stop the trade beyond New Zealand’s borders.

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The pet cafe, in Tokyo's touristy Asakusa area, is part of a popular scene where patrons can kick back with a coffee and snuggle one of their favourite animals.

The craze is aimed at reducing stress and countering a shortage of space for pets at home in the densely packed capital. But animal rights activists continue to oppose the industry.

The coffee shop offers cuddles with sleepy owls. An attached pet shop sells birds of prey, like falcons and hawks, parrots, flamingos, and native Australian birds like kookaburra and galahs. Animals such as skunks and hedgehogs are also listed.

The male kea, aged three years, is one of the most expensive birds in the online catalogue at ￥1,800,000 ($25,524). The priciest is a Griffon vulture, a massive and rare raptor from Europe, at ￥2,800,000 ($39,704).

A sulphur-crested cockatoo, widespread in Australia but with a small introduced population in New Zealand, is offered for ￥1,300,000 ($18,434).

A spokesman for the cafe said the kea was imported as a breeding bird from Europe and would only be sold within Japan.

“He is three years old and is very active and healthy,” he said. “I have nothing else to say. This kea was legally imported from Europe.”

The large, green mountain parrots are known for their curiosity and intelligence.

In 2017, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List, the world's most comprehensive inventory of threatened species, listed kea as endangered.

In New Zealand, they are classified as “threatened – nationally endangered”.

Dylan Swain, the Department of Conservation’s principal compliance officer, said there were “large numbers” of kea legally in captivity overseas.

That is because they were exported to zoos and collectors around the world before the bird was given full protection under the Wildlife Act in 1986.

“We suspect the example you’ve found on this website is one of them … there are many captive kea overseas and, because they can easily be purchased from legal sources, it’s rare to hear of allegations of smuggled kea,” Swain said.

“We’re obviously concerned for the welfare of kea held in captivity overseas, however they are beyond our jurisdiction.

“There is little we can do other than pass information on to overseas authorities and request they ensure the birds have been legally acquired and their welfare is being taken care of.”

Swain said DoC had contacted Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species [CITIES] authorities in Japan.

“Kea are popular because they’re beautiful, intelligent birds with cheeky characters; many collectors purchase kea because they love them and, therefore, have an interest in taking good care of them.”

For biosecurity reasons, it’s unlikely that any species of bird purchased privately overseas could be brought into New Zealand, he said.

Tamsin Orr-Walker, co-founder of the Kea Conservation Trust, says rare birds are most prized by fanciers because of their scarcity.

“One of our main concerns is the welfare of those birds. They are a highly social and highly complex species and have very specific needs to take care of in captivity.

“So for someone to plonk them in a cage and forget about them for half a day, it’s like being in a prison, I should imagine.

“In New Zealand we have very strict minimum standards … that's the size of the enclosure, the type of enrichment that the birds received, [and] they have to have social interaction with other kea.”

Orr-Walker said the trust had now contacted the cafe owners to offer advice on caring for the kea.

“We get contacted by members of the public who've seen the ‘for sale’ signs overseas, and we follow up with DoC and CITIES to find out the legality.

“If there is a black market for kea, or any of our native species, then clearly we want to make sure that is jumped on immediately.

“Unfortunately, these birds turn out to be legal, generally. So they've been sent overseas, legally at some point, or potentially there's been a black market several decades ago and those birds have been bred.

“It’s very difficult to find out the origin of those, so there's no way that those birds can be taken away.”

Fiona Gordon, an environmental policy analyst and Jane Goodall Institute New Zealand ambassador, said the CITES trade database showed between 213 to 299 live kea were traded internationally, between 1981 and 2018, mostly from captive breeding facilities.

Records show that New Zealand had not exported any live kea birds since 1996, she said.

Kea live only in the South Island, close to alpine areas and are often discovered at ski-fields and mountain huts.

They lay their eggs on the ground or in crevices and mate for life.

Early European settlers viewed them as a pest as they attacked live sheep and until 1971 it was legal to hunt the bird for a bounty.

Humans killed at least 150,000 between 1860 and 1970.

They are also threatened by predators like possums, cats, rats and stoats which attack eggs and steal their food supply.