When Forest & Bird’s annual ‘Bird of the Year’ competition launched today, it came with a surprise announcement: a global fast food brand has now become its major sponsor.

The competition, which has re-branded to ‘The KFC Finger Lickin’ Good Bird of the Year’, now has the added incentive that KFC will be contributing to conservation efforts for the winning species.

“It was a natural fit for us”, said KFC marketing manager Coleen L. Saunders. “Our market research indicates that many consumers believe chicken to be a type of bird, which is supported by our machine learning algorithms. When shown several pictures of native birds, the AI identified a 42% chicken-like correlation”

A spokesperson for Forest & Bird acknowledged that the move was likely to be controversial, but emphasised that conservation was at the heart of the partnership.

“Let’s be honest. So far, we’ve managed to increase numbers for a few species here and there. But with KFC on board, the winning bird’s population size will be boosted by many millions, when it gets incorporated into their intensive factory farming process.”

Saunders added that while KFC were obviously hoping that one of the “larger, more delicious” native species would win, the public could rest assured that their votes would be what counted at the end of the day. It was as important as ever for supporters of each species to do their part to “win the hearts, minds, and now stomachs, of the New Zealand public”.

When asked whether it would also support efforts to conserve non-winning species, KFC said it could not commit to future campaigns, but many of the losing species would likely be incorporated into its “11 secret birds and spices”, on a trial basis.