New Zealand Penguin Gets a Ticket Home

By Jim Andrews, Senior Meteorologist 
Aug 17, 2011

"Happy Feet​" on Peka Peka Beach, New Zealand, on June 21, 2011. (AP Photo/N.Z. Herald, Mark Mitchell)

The Emperor penguin that turned up stranded on a New Zealand beach, far from his native range in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, has been scheduled to return south on a research ship.
Restored to health since the June stranding, the wayward bird, named "Happy Feet," will be shipped back to the Southern Ocean on Aug. 29, the UK's Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
The ship Tangaroa is slated to sail out of Wellington on a mission to carry out research on Southern Ocean Fisheries, according to the Telegraph.
Happy Feet will be freed near Campbell Island in waters which are within the normal feeding range of Emperor penguins. Hope is that the bird will then finish the last 1,250 miles of the long trek back to Antarctica, where Emperors have their breeding colonies.
A satellite tracking device will let scientists and the public follow his progress through the website of the New Zealand zoo involved in his care.
The zoo's executive chief director, Karen Fifield, that Happy Feet's specially designed crate would keep him "cold and comfortable," and that three people, including a vet, would be tasked with looking after him.
The 26-kg (57-lb) penguin somehow strayed the better part of a thousand miles from its customary feeding areas before ending up on a North Island, New Zealand, beach in June.
It is hard to say whether storms or abnormal currents played a part in his wanderings.
Reports at the time of the June incident suggested that the penguin's swallowing of sand from the New Zealand beach, necessitating a two-hour medical operation, was a normal reaction to thirst. In its native Antarctica, the Emperor penguin can simply scoop up snow to get fresh water.

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(And special thanks to Rick for the heads up on this article!)

Image of the Day

Yellow Eyed Penguin, a photo by Connis and Arthur on Flickr.

Happy Feet to hitch ride home

Updated August 17, 2011 19:15:48

Happy Feet washed ashore Peka Peka Beach on the north island of New Zealand in June.

Happy Feet, the wayward emperor penguin that was discovered on a beach in New Zealand in June, will be shipped home on board a scientific research boat later this month.
The giant bird took a wrong turn and ended up on New Zealand's Peka Peka Beach after swimming 4,000 kilometres from Antarctica.
It was the first recorded sighting of an emperor penguin in New Zealand in more than 40 years.
Happy Feet has spent the past two months at Wellington Zoo, recovering from operations to remove sand and sticks from his stomach.
He will be housed in a specially designed travel crate designed to keep him cold and comfortable during the voyage.
Wellington Zoo chief executive Karen Fifield says Happy Feet will be released near Campbell Island, which is within the normal feeding range of Emperor penguins.
"He'll be on board for about four days and so once they are about four days out to sea, they'll be at about 53 degrees south which is the perfect point to release him," she said.
"I think we will all miss him. I think the world will miss him actually, but it's ready for him to go back and be an emperor penguin."

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Image of the Day

Penguin, a photo by imy18 on Flickr.

More on Happy Feet

Ask the Times: Happy Feet, the penguin found stranded in New Zealand, is making progress

Times staff, wires
In Print: Tuesday, August 16, 2011

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Happy Feet is making progress
Do you have an update on what happened to the penguin that ended up in New Zealand?

Happy Feet, as the emperor penguin has been named, is at the Wellington Zoo, where he is gaining strength so he can be released into the ocean, the New Zealand Herald reported. The juvenile penguin was found June 20 on Peka Peka Beach, north of the capital city of Wellington, where he had been eating sand, sticks and rocks. Happy Feet had to have several procedures to remove the debris from his stomach.
"There are a lot of factors we need to consider just to keep him safe on the journey, so we just need to work through that and make sure we take him down south and have a successful release," Wellington Zoo veterinary science manager Lisa Argilla told the Herald. "We are not prepared to rush that, obviously — because if you rush it, it's going to go wrong."
It is believed Happy Feet swam nearly 2,000 miles from Antarctica to New Zealand. This is only the second recorded time that an emperor penguin has been found in New Zealand and the first since 1967, according to the Herald.
No time has been set for Happy Feet's release, though the Associated Press said it could come soon. Argilla will have to approve the schedule based on how much stress it would cause the penguin and transportation must be selected.
"It'd have to be a boat that can take the penguin that has some form of chilling on it, that can take the media, and that is licensed to go that far south," Department of Conservation biodiversity program manager Peter Simpson told the Herald.
Until he's released, Happy Feet can be seen on his own live webcam:
       3news.co.nz/Video/3NewsLiveStream/HappyFeetlivestream.aspx   (click on the arrow).
More than 100,000 people are following his movements already.
One woman wrote an e-mail saying she was ill but taking "a lot of comfort in simply watching the penguin," according to the Associated Press. "It's kind of like O. Henry's story The Leaf," wrote the woman, identified as Janet in Chicago. "I feel as long as the penguin does well, I'll do well."

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Experts predict little penguin on brink of extinction

Photo: Conservationists fear little penguins on Granite Island are on the brink of being wiped out

Kim Robertson

August 16, 2011

 

Related Story: Project aims to coax Granite Island penguins back

Video: Penguin puzzle (7pm TV News SA)

Video: Little penguins under threat (7pm TV News SA)

Map: Victor Harbor 5211

 

Volunteers have begun a count of little penguins on Granite Island off South Australia's Victor Harbor, but say they fear the total number may have further declined.

Conservationists expect a new census of the penguins to show the population is on the brink of being wiped out.
About 60 volunteers have counted penguin burrows on the popular tourist site today, with work to continue next week.
There were about 1,600 penguins there a decade ago but last year's census found just 146.
The cause of the decline remains unknown, with recent efforts to solve the mystery including the introduction of camera surveillance and micro-chipping.
Ecologist Annelise Wiebkin says the penguins have several natural predators.
"Some of the causes may be from terrestrial predators such as cats, foxes on the mainland, even dogs, rats, possibly also seals. Seals are a natural predator of little penguins. Habitat degradation may be causing them not to breed in certain areas," she said.
Conservationist Natalie Gilbert says it has not yet been proven that an increase in the number of New Zealand fur seals is behind the decline.
"Some colonies in South Australia have got seals close by - lots of them - and are doing fine. Others don't seem to have as many and seem to be suffering a lot more," she said.
In July, the local Natural Resources Management Board announced it would install nesting boxes and plant native trees to try to stop the decline.

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Image of the Day

Trip: Tokyo, Japan 2008, a photo by lapyan on Flickr.

Phillip Island wildlife rehab centre opens

• Staff writer
• From: Herald Sun
• August 15, 2011 

Phillip Island's penguins now have a rehab centre to support them.

 

PHILLIP Island's little penguins are in safe hands with the official opening of the island's new wildlife rehabilitation centre.

Environment Minister Ryan Smith said the centre had the capacity to care for up to 1500 little penguins and other injured wildlife.

"The centre will provide an outstanding level of support for the Phillip Island little penguin colony and is a credit to the hard work of the local community and staff at the Phillip Island Nature Park," he said.
The penguin parade attracts more than 500,000 visitors each year and pumps more than $107 million into the Victorian economy.

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Even Happy Feet doesn't like the cold

15/08/2011

Happy Feet took advantage of the cold weather to take a swim in Wellington today.

ANDREW GORRIE/Dominion Post

TOO COLD: Even Happy Feet the emperor penguin wasn't too keen on staying in the pool for long when given the chance this morning.

Happy Feet took advantage of the cold weather to take a swim in Wellington today.
The emperor penguin gained worldwide fame after he was discovered on a Kapiti Coast beach in June.
Staff at Wellington Zoo let Happy Feet out at 10am this morning to take a dip in a saltwater pool.
A vet had to give him a nudge to get him into the water and he spent about 20 seconds swimming around before heading back to his enclosure.

Happy Feet also took at swim last month when cold weather hit the region.
Zoo staff said the swim was a chance for Happy Feet to get some exercise and test how waterproof his coat is.
The Conservation Department is planning to return him to the sea from a boat off the Bluff coast.
Happy Feet is the first known emperor penguin to swim the more than 3000 kilometres to New Zealand from Antarctica in 44 years.

He has been a popular drawcard at Wellington Zoo when hundreds of people have visited him.
At least $30,000 has been spent saving Happy Feet at a time when conservation budgets for safeguarding other wildlife are being slashed.
But the bird has provided priceless publicity for wildlife in general, says Forest and Bird.

video available at source

Image of the Day

King's Gold, a photo by littlechay on Flickr.

Granite Island penguins are on the brink of being wiped out

• Sarah Mennie
• From: Sunday Mail (SA)
• August 13, 2011

Granite Island penguin centre manager Dorothy Longden with a Little Penguin. Picture: Brooke Whatnall Source: Sunday Mail (SA)

 

GRANITE Island's penguin population is on the brink of being wiped out.

The number of penguins at the popular tourist destination has dropped from 1548 to 146 in the past 10 years and researchers fear tomorrow's penguin census will reveal the trend is continuing.
But penguin experts who work on the island say culling seals, an idea raised this week over concerns for Kangaroo Island's disappearing penguin population, is not the answer.
Natalie Gilbert, who works in penguin management and conservation at Granite Island Nature Park, said investigations had begun to determine what was responsible for the decrease.
"We need to investigate all possibilities," Ms Gilbert told the Sunday Mail.
"We shouldn't be making such important decisions (on culling seals) without being completely knowledgeable on the subject. We haven't been able to pinpoint the problem."

City of Victor Harbor director of planning and regulatory services Graham Pathuis said council would wait for recommendations from the research before determining if they could help.
Mr Pathuis said council would have to look at shifting the direction of local tourism if the penguins disappeared all together from the island.
"It's a long-standing tourism activity associated with Granite Island," he said.
But he was confident if the species vanished from the area tourism would not be affected overall. "There might be a shift, with more of a focus on other things; we have a large variety of tourism attractions."
Ms Gilbert said work was already being done to address the declining penguin numbers, including research and improving the habitat on Granite Island to encourage breeding.

A program encouraging people to bring in any dead penguins they discovered for autopsy was proving useful and indicated disease was not responsible for deaths.
"Some carcasses show definite evidence of predators," Ms Gilbert said.
"There's nothing conclusive. There's no doubt seals are involved but to what extent?"
As well as seals, other potential threats included dogs and cats, rats and possums.
As part of the program to save the Granite Island penguins, motion sensor cameras have been set up on the island to capture footage of predators in the penguin colonies.

Penguins are also being tagged with microchips for future identification and a tag reader has been installed that records when the penguin goes to and from the sea. School children and volunteers recently made and installed 35 penguin nesting boxes.
Vegetation on the island is also closely monitored to ensure it meets the penguins' needs and Ms Gilbert said fish stocks did not appear to be a problem for the penguins. Penguin ecologist Annelise Wiebkin said while there was no denying seals were part of the problem, culling them was not the answer.

"If we started culling them we would have to keep that up at a huge rate and also they're a native species," Ms Wiebkin said. "And there's just not enough information to prove it's going to work."
Ms Wiebkin said the best way of dealing with the problem was managing things on the land.
"If land predators like cats, rats and dogs are an issue - which have been in other colonies in Australia - if we can address that and improve habitat, that might counteract things happening out at sea," she said.
She said some areas of Granite Island could be fenced off to protect the penguins from land predators.

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