Roving dogs suspects in penguin killings

By JARED SMITH - Taranaki Daily News

16/08/2010

 

 

NESTING SEASON TOLL: Department of Conservation ranger Callum Lilley with two little blue penguins believed to have been killed by dogs last week on the Ngamotu and Wai-iti beaches.

Dog owners are being urged to keep their animals on a leash while on the beach after two little blue penguins were killed at the start of nesting season last week.
Department of Conservation ranger Callum Lilley said a roaming dog was carrying one dead penguin in its mouth on Wai-iti Beach, while the other was found on Ngamotu Beach with puncture marks.
"The birds will be autopsied at the New Zealand Wildlife Centre at Massey University but their injuries suggest a dog attack. It's certainly not our mate the leopard seal. They tend to chomp and don't leave any evidence." The leopard seal swam into Port Taranaki on August 6.
Mark Meyburg, who is researching the penguins on a one-year teacher fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand, said Wai-iti had a bigger penguin colony than many Taranaki beaches.
In June, the students of Mimi Primary School launched Project Pingu to build and place protective wooden boxes for the penguins to nest.
"We are placing stoat traps there, too," said Mr Meyburg.
"But roaming dogs will soon bite into a dwindling population. Local residents Gwen and Ian Besley used to have penguins walking past their door but they don't see as many now."
At 35 centimetres to 40cm tall and weighing 1 kilogram, the little blues are the world's smallest penguins. Between August and November a breeding pair will usually lay one or two eggs and after about eight weeks the chicks will fend for themselves.

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