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Nhulunbuy teacher reveals cockatoo lunch stealing

A pair of cunning cockatoos are frustrating locals in this remote NT town, stealing lunches and going through residents’ bins. Watch the video.

Cockatoos at Nhulunbuy Christian College continue to steal students' lunches.

Students in Nhulunbuy are going hungry as two cockatoos continue to terrorise kids by stealing their lunch.

Footage taken by a staff member of two cockatoos unzipping bags and stealing muesli bars and sandwiches at Nhulunbuy Christian College.

Teacher Kaylie Thompson told the NT News preventative measures were not working.

“We always talk about zipping up bags, but the cockatoos have learned to unzip them,” she said.

A pair of thieving cockatoos have been stealing kids lunches at a Nhulunbuy school.
A pair of thieving cockatoos have been stealing kids lunches at a Nhulunbuy school.

“Pretty much the only thing that works is bringing them inside – if we don’t bring them inside, their lunch is pretty much gone.”

Ms Thompson said students were triggered by the serial offending.

“(Students) definitely get frustrated, they yell and scream, they get frustrated and they will want to help each other so if they see another kid’s bag – even from a different class – being attacked, they run over, yell and scream and the cockatoos disappear.”

Ms Thompson confirmed the issue was a “lost battle” and it was becoming a town problem.

“I think it’s a lost battle, it’s not just the school that they attack,” she said.

“I regularly come home and my garbage bin contents are all over the grounds because they have lifted up the lid and got inside.”

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Original URL: https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/nhulunbuy-teacher-reveals-cockatoo-lunch-stealing/news-story/fe6f71ad281d7c20489169476f0387d0