Campers get home and find stowaway creature in car. ‘I couldn’t stop laughing’
A couple went on a camping trip in New Zealand, drove over 180 miles back home and then found a stowaway creature in their car. Wildlife officials stepped in to return the adventurous animal.
Kim Ranger went camping over Easter weekend with her partner, Ian, at a campground in Buller Gorge on the West Coast of the country’s South Island, New Zealand’s Department of Conservation said in a May 5 news release.
At the end of their visit, the pair “packed up their camping gear” and drove “the whole way home, including making a couple of stops,” officials said. They drove over 180 miles to Christchurch on the island’s East Coast.
“When I got home, I opened the back door of the (Ford) Ranger to get something (and) there it was in the rear passenger footwell:” a weka, Ranger said.
“The weka is a large, brown flightless bird that has a famously feisty and curious personality,” wildlife officials said in an article. These birds are native to New Zealand and protected by law.
A photo shows the stowaway weka in the back seat area of the couple’s car.
“The weka took advantage of an open door and climbed into their Ford Ranger (utility vehicle), hiding in dog blankets,” officials said in the release.
While driving, “(Ian) didn’t hear it, didn’t see it, nothing,” Ranger said. “I couldn’t stop laughing and then I came (to) the realisation, what on earth do you do with a weka in Christchurch?”
“There are no wild weka in Christchurch so we wouldn’t want to see them accidentally introduced here,” Craig Alexander, a biodiversity supervisor with the conservation department, said in the release.
The couple knew this and immediately called local wildlife groups for advice and were told “to wait until the next morning” so they “gave the weka food and water and left it in the (car),” officials said.
“The weka didn’t show any signs of being distressed, when you opened the door he just stood on the centre console and pooped — though he did set off the car alarm at 7 in the morning,” Ranger said. “The inside of the (car) was literally covered in weka poop.”
The couple nicknamed the bird “Ranger” because of “its temporary home” and Kim’s last name.
Wildlife officials eventually arrived to rescue the weka from its own predicament. They took the bird to a wildlife hospital for a health check, gave it some fluids and determined “it was in good health,” the department said.
“We were able to get it back over to the West Coast in a small carrier cage on a bus and it was released near the area it had hitched a ride from,” Alexander said.
“It was such a funny end to our camping trip,” Ranger said.
Alexander said “it’s a good reminder for people to be mindful about unintentionally transporting animals in their equipment … We don’t want to accidentally introduce new species — even native ones — into places they don’t belong as they could have unexpected impacts on our ecosystems. Every person, business and community has a role in protecting and restoring nature.”
The department asked the public to continue reporting any stowaway or out-of-place animals.
