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June 3, 2010

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Australian bird too fat to escape hot dogs

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, 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 resident brought the bird to the zoo after spotting dogs chasing her along the ground.

"The kookaburra's been down at the rehabilition aviary for a couple of weeks on a special light-'n'-easy diet designed by our bird keeper," said Watkinson.

She also follows a rigorous exercise regime up to three times a day with a trainer.





 

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