Sheep killed by kea. Original description from Marriner (1907): "The first dead sheep was found at the foot of the Rolleston Range, about ten miles above the Rakaia Forks, on a broad expanse of river-flat, known at the homestead as the “Top Flat.” The animal was a merino ram, in splendid condition, and, from the place in which it was found, it had apparently been chased by the bird or birds until it was cornered where two wire fences met, and there injured. The sheep was quite dead, and lying on its wounded side. On turning the beast over we found an ugly black-looking wound on the right loin at 11 in. from the tail. The hole was 5 in. long by 4 in. wide The wool was all torn off, and the flesh was removed so that the transverse processes of lumbar vertebræ were visible. Though a deep hole had been made in the flesh, the birds had not reached the body-cavity, nor had they injured the kidneys, and from the appearance of the animal it seemed as if it had died from blood-poisoning. Further up the back there were several other places where the wool had been picked. We proped the sheep up in order to photograph it, and on returning next day we found that the keas had evidently been at it, as was shown by the wool which was scattered around the carcase."
George R. Marriner (1879-1910)
1907
Cropped from <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_40/rsnz_40_00_0698_0000f_ac_01.jpg">http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_40/rsnz_40_00_0698_0000f_ac_01.jpg</a>, in Marriner, G. R. (1907) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_40/rsnz_40_00_006900.html">Additional Notes on the Kea</a>. <i>Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand</i>, 40, 534–537 and Plates XXXII-XXXIV.