THE BALLAD OF PETRA AND JACINTA

Right after Petra moved to Invercargill in 2015, she met someone. There was another big bird at the Queens Park animal reserve: Jacinta, widely known for her sweet personality. Petra and Jacinta became inseparable friends. Then, this August, Jacinta fell ill and died, leaving Petra, the world’s southernmost ostrich, all alone. Park officials wondered, would she cope or would she succumb to sadness?

On the visited, Petra was standing in the midst of her enclosure, which comprises two large paddocks, a laneway and some shelters. She stared intently around her, the head moving as if on a swivel. When some families strolled past, she walked with long, loping strides to the latticed fence and lifted her neck over the top to get a closer look. Asked by a visitor how she was doing, Petra looked away and declined to comment. But Jessey Beattie-Mackey, the local council’s living species officer, said that Petra and Jacinta “were very close. When Jacinta died, we worried that Petra would stop eating.”