FEATHERED FRIEND: Gracie Greenough, 9, and her father Keith meet one of Auckland Zoo’s kaka.When Gracie Greenough and her dad Keith spotted an injured bird on Queen St, they had to stop and help.
"We were driving up Queen St and saw this thing flapping around on the road. Lots of cars were just driving over it and we were surprised it wasn't dead, but it seemed to be able to avoid the wheels. I said to my girl, ‘We can't just drive away'."
Mr Greenough was appalled that nobody seemed interested in helping the injured bird. He stopped his car in the middle of Queen St and chased it up the road.
"When I caught up to it, it was exhausted and it let me put my jacket over the top of it."
The bird sat on Gracie's lap and even accepted some water, apple and pretzels.
"I knew it was a New Zealand native parrot of some sort," Mr Greenough says.
After stopping in at the Remuera Vet Clinic for advice, the pair took the kaka to Auckland Zoo's New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine. Vet Dr Bethany Jackson examined the kaka and found that it had a shoulder injury, but no broken bones.
"We just wanted to keep in touch and find out what happened to the bird so I asked the zoo to let us know either way. Gracie's got a big heart and she was concerned," Mr Greenough says.
Thankfully, the news came back that the kaka was alive and well.
The female bird has been named Makere and is now living happily in an off-display space with another rescued kaka.
Gracie has enjoyed following Makere's progress. She was invited back to the zoo on Sunday to check up on her feathered friend.
"Gracie's loved it. We've elected not to have pets at our place, because we're just too busy. So Gracie having this experience with this native creature has opened her eyes.
"She couldn't figure out why people were against trying to save the bird. So we've talked through that with her - the dark side of human nature."
Makere will become part of a breeding programme for kaka.