An overweight, adult, female laughing Kookaburra sits on
a perch at the Taronga Zoo medical facility in Sydney June 2, 2010.
(REUTERS/Tim Wimborne
An Australian kookaburra bird is undergoing personal training
after growing too fat to fly because she ate too many sausages.
The kookaburra got into trouble with her weight when residents
at a Sydney park began feeding her sausages at barbecues.
The porky kookaburra weighed in at 565 grams (1.2 pounds),
nearly 40 percent heavier than a normal adult bird, rendering her
so unfit she couldn't fly.
"Out in the wild she'd eat a whole small animal such as a mouse
or skink, but butcher's sausages are just too much of a good
thing," said Gemma Watkinson, Sydney's Taronga Zoo wildlife
hospital nurse.
A Sydney resident brought the bird to the zoo after spotting
dogs chasing her along the ground.
"The kookaburra's been down at the rehabilitation aviary for a
couple of weeks on a special 'lite n'easy' diet designed by our
bird keeper," said Watkinson.
Following a rigorous exercise regime up to three times a day
with a personal trainer, the kookaburra is winning her battle of
the bulge, but still a little more weight to shed before being
ready to be returned to her native habitat.
"We've fitted the temporary home out like a 'bird gym'," said
Watkinson.