A cheeky New Zealand parrot — perhaps with a desire to spread its wings further afield — has pinched a Scottish man’s passport in a bag snatch.
The passport was in a brightly colored courier bag in the luggage compartment of a bus heading into the popular tourist destination of Milford Sound in the Fiordland region of the South Island, the Southland Times reported.
The kea, the world’s only alpine parrot, struck when the bus stopped and the driver was busy in the luggage compartment. When the driver turned around the startled kea flew away with the passport.
The bird was last seen heading into thick forest and the British passport’s owner doesn’t expect to get it back.
“Being Scottish, I’ve got a sense of humor so I did take it with humor but obviously there is one side of me still raging,” said the man, who did not want to be named.
“My passport is somewhere out there in Fiordland. The kea’s probably using it for fraudulent claims or something. I’ll never look at a kea in the same way.”
Kea are renowned for their intelligence and curiosity and the protected birds are also considered a pest for pulling rubber fittings and windscreen wipers from vehicles and rummaging in people’s bags.(afp)
紐西蘭一隻調皮的鸚鵡──也許是翅膀硬了想出去闖闖──從一個蘇格蘭男子的包包中偷叼走他的護照。
《南島時報》報導,這本裝在一個顏色鮮艷的快遞袋中的護照,是放在一輛開往南島峽灣國家公園熱門觀光景點米佛峽灣的巴士行李廂中。
這隻啄羊鸚鵡趁著巴士停車、司機忙著整理行李廂的時候發動攻勢。結果司機一轉身,這隻受到驚嚇的啄羊鸚鵡就叼著護照飛走了;啄羊鸚鵡是全世界唯一生長在高山上的鸚鵡。
有人看到這隻鳥最後飛往濃密的樹林,這本英國護照的主人並不奢望能拿回護照。
「身為蘇格蘭人,我天生就有幽默感,所以我以幽默的態度看待,不過顯然我心裡還是怒氣難消。」
「我的護照掉在國家公園的某處,那隻鸚鵡八成會把它拿去騙錢或什麼的。我對啄羊鸚鵡完全改觀了。」
啄羊鸚鵡以個性機靈及富有好奇心出名,這種受到保育的鳥類也因為會拉扯汽車的橡膠配件和雨刷,和翻找路人的包包而被認為是討人厭的動物。(法新社╱翻譯:袁星塵)
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