A preservation group is alerting individuals to view their dogs on beaches, after a threatened native penguin was discovered trampled to death on Wellington’s south coast.
Forest & Bird – Places for Penguins received a message from a member of the general public through DOC that had actually reported a departed little blue penguin/kororā on Wellington’s south coast.
The kororā, or little blue penguin, was required to Wellington Zoo for a necropsy.
It was apart of a monitored microchipped population, with an approximated 100,000 left in the wild.
Forest & Bird committee member Brittany Florence-Bennett, who gathered the kororā, said she was distressed to discover an adult breeding female discovered dead.
“This female had actually produced 2 healthy chicks last season and is among our most effective breeders so it is a big loss to the already having a hard time kororā population,” she said.
The kororā planner for the New Zealand Penguin Initiative, Katherine Smith, said the types was already under threat from ecological pressures.
“This extra pressure of predator attacks, specifically by dogs and dog walkers, is putting that extra pressure on the climbing up population,” she said.
“So it is truly crucial for individuals to be alert around the coast.”
Any hurt or departed native wildlife ought to be reported to the Department of Conservation through their hotline, 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468).