Sausage-addicted kookaburra too fat to fly

Too many tasty sausages almost killed this kookaburra. But health worries weren't the threat. She became so obese from barbecue handouts she could not fly when attacked by dogs in a Mosman park.

After weighing in at 540g, 40 per cent heavier than a typical adult bird, the kookaburra has been sent to bird boot camp to shed weight, prompting Taronga Zoo in Australia to warn that people are killing wildlife with kindness.



When she was rescued in Rawson Park and taken to Taronga a broken wing was thought to be why she couldn't fly. But when no fracture was found, the real reason emerged. "I've seen many kookaburras, but never before have I seen one so fat," wildlife hospital nurse Gemma Watkinson said. "It turned out that it was simply too obese to fly."

"I'm almost certain this porky kookaburra found a resident or two who've been treating her with sausages. In the wild she'd eat a whole small animal [and] get a balanced diet. Butchers' sausages are just too much of a good thing."