Oiled wildlife centre closed

The Oiled Wildlife Response Centre in Te Maunga once housed more than 400 oiled birds – it is now back in the hands of the city and is a strip of barren grass.

The centre next to Baypark in Mount Maunganui was officially handed back to Tauranga City Council on Thursday.

The Oiled Wildlife Response Centre in Te Maunga at the height of the Rena response matched against its barren look now.

Maritime New Zealand spokesperson Sophie Hazelhurst says this is another positive step in the Rena recovery and a sign that fewer wildlife are being harmed.

'This reflects the fact that there are fewer oiled birds being found.

'We still have oiled responders going into the field, but they are finding fewer affected animals.”

Sophie says workers have been scaling down the response centre for the last month with final adjustments made this week to ensure the site is returned to its pre-Rena state.

'The centre was slowly dismantled and in the past week preparations have been made to get the site back to the standard it was in.

'The council have assessed the site and signed it off.”

Any further oiled wildlife found in the Bay of Plenty will be stabilised at a local Tauranga care facility and transported to Palmerston North to be rehabilitated by specialists at Massey University.

Three containers that formed the nucleus of the site also remain in Tauranga in case an escalated response is required.

The mobile oiled response centre was set up following the grounding of the Rena on October 5.

It involved container-sized specialised mobile units being trucked in from Palmerston North and erected in an area next to the wastewater treatment plant.

Each unit has three wash stations where oiled birds and other wildlife were washed and rinsed of the black oil which leaked from Rena.

Onsite vets and ornithologists arrived in Tauranga from throughout New Zealand and around the world to assist in the treatment of oiled wildlife.

At the peak of the response 409 birds were housed at the facility including 345 little blue penguins, 60 New Zealand dotterel and four pied shags.

Oiled penguins were rehabilitated and waterproofed before taking a swim in the newly erected pools on site.

In keeping with their daily diet, penguins were fed between five to seven fish, twice daily.

Additional enclosures were built with each aviary housing up to 25 penguins, each with its indoor pool and communal areas for penguins to preen, feed and swim.

The first 49 oiled little blue penguins were released back into their original environment on Rabbit Island from Mount Maunganui beach on November 22.

Further penguins were released once they were well enough and their habitats were given the all clear.

Only one bird still remains in care with six penguins scheduled for release at the end of next week.

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4 comments

since

Posted on 11-02-2012 21:21 | By Capt_Kaveman

we were not allowed to go see this complex in action i really dont care anymore


Capt_kaveman.....

Posted on 12-02-2012 09:24 | By Donnaw

They were there to try and save wildlife, not as a public amusement park, would you really like to take your children to see dieing wildlife? I think you will find they had bigger things to worry about than having the public walking around and looking at everything, but if it is dieing wildlife you want to see then walk down the beach, im sure there still some washing up for your enjoyment.


Donnaw

Posted on 12-02-2012 16:05 | By Capt_Kaveman

you missed the boat completely


Well Donnaw

Posted on 12-02-2012 16:41 | By Jack the Lad

you never know, it may have been a way with some lateral thinking for Paul Bowker and his mob to boost tourisim in the Bay.


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