by Playfuls Staff |
3rd February 2006
It really is a crazy world out there, and this really comes to prove it. Thus, looks like the parrots from New Zealand are so dangerous and fierce creatures, that only karate experts can handle them, because the organizers of a vintage car rally in NZ have hired such martial arts experts to protect vehicles from the marauding native parrots, a news report said Friday.[more]
According to the Associated Press, about 40 members of a karate club have been enlisted to protect some 140 classic cars due to visit an alpine village near Mount Cook on New Zealand's South Island on Sunday, the New Zealand Press Association reported.
The karate experts will protect the cars from Keas, sharp-beaked native parrots which have been known to damage vehicles in their search for shiny items, NZPA said.
Denis Callesen, manager of the nearby Hermitage Hotel, said bird lovers needn't be concerned the karate experts would use martial arts moves on the parrots, which are a protected species. Their job would simply be to scare the birds away, he said.
Local wildlife ranger Ray Bellringer said the karate masters are unlikely to deter the Keas.
"They will fly around and laugh," he said.
The best method to prevent Keas from damaging vehicles is to squirt them with water pistols, he added.
He said the keas would move from one end of the village to the other, easily eluding the car bodyguards.
"I think it's a huge joke."
Apart from relocating the birds there was no way of stopping them, he said.
"They don't like being squirted with water pistols, so that's quite a good way to deter them – just momentarily."
He said the reason the parrots were attracted to shiny objects and would take anything not locked down was due to adaptation of the species.
"Because of the landscape they are in, over the centuries they have had to be scavengers, they have had to adapt. They've had to be curious to survive in the mountain landscape."
Crazy enough, this story’s for real. Well, can’t wait to see whether the karatekas managed to kick away the birds, or whether the parrot’s skills were superior.
