SYDNEY Mon. May 31 2010.(Reuters) - 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.
(Reporting by Pauline Askin, Editing by Michael Perry)
