This country is offering a Rs 3.5 lakh-salary job to protect rare species, get free helicopter rides

The primary task for the successful candidate will be to help protect rare species which includes a rare species of kiwi birds. (Representative image)

A job that comes with a salary of almost Rs 3.5 lakh per month, includes watching over rare birds and offers free helicopter and boat rides to a UNESCO World Heritage site sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Except that it is true.

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation had been struggling to attract the right candidate for the post a biodiversity supervisor within its own borders. But that was a week ago. Ever since the department decided to open up to international candidates, applicants from Colombia to Sweden have been lining up for the job.

The primary task for the successful candidate will be to help protect rare species on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island.

That includes a rare breed of kiwi -- the bird, not the fruit -- as well as patrolling the spectacular landscape and watching over penguins and lizards.

The job, like the kiwi, hardly got off the ground when it was first advertised by New Zealand's Department of Conservation last month, attracting just three applicants.

But then, as the word spread that the position of biodiversity supervisor involves hiking and riding in helicopters and jet boats through some of the world's most beautiful scenery, candidates have flocked to put in their applications.

The successful candidate will have to work across remote, rugged areas, many of which are accessible only by helicopter or jetboat, and get a salary of about NZ$90,000 a year which is equivalent to about Rs 42 lakh.

Then there was the connection with Lord of the Rings. The job is based in Te Wāhipounamu – an area encompassing 26,000 square kilometres of mountain ranges, beaches and forests, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Area, The Guardian reported. And, its mountain ranges formed the backdrop for the White Mountains/Ered Nimrais in Peter Jackson’s adaption of the Lord of the Rings.

So far, the department has received 1,400 applications from as far afield as Finland, Romania, Paraguay and South Africa.

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Operations manager Wayne Costello said the latest response has been overwhelming.

"I have an Instagram account and my number is on WhatsApp, so I started having quite a few requests from Colombia, Romania and Sweden, all around the world," Costello told AFP on Thursday. "I might have to go and change a few search engines," he said.

(With inputs from AFP)

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