Penguins housed for long-term care

Staff at the Oiled Wildlife Response Centre at Te Maunga are preparing for the long-term care of little blue penguins and are aiming to have three aviaries completed by the end of the day.

Builders are working on 10 aviaries in total to house 379 birds in the care of the facility.


The captured birds include 60 New Zealand dotterels, one shearwater, one tern, three pied shags and 314 little blue penguins.

Around 1400 birds have been found dead since the stricken cargo ship Rena ran aground on October 5.

Oiled Wildlife Response manager Kerri Morgan says it is too early to say when the captured penguins will be released, as the response team wants to ensure they are nourished and healthy first.

'The aviaries are designed to house the penguins more comfortably long term, and each has an indoor pool and communal areas for the birds to preen, feed and swim.”


Aviaries are being built to house little blue penguins.

Kerri says each aviary can house 25 penguins and proper feeding of them is important.

'We use either sprats or anchovies and need to ensure that none of the natural oils from the fish get on the birds' feathers as this can damage their natural waterproofing.”

The penguins have one swim per day which lets them condition and preen their feathers so they can re-waterproof.

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1 comment

What cost?

Posted on 27-10-2011 16:31 | By Kin

Cute little penguins but how much should we spend on all this? Is it infinite? Where do you draw the line? There are PEOPLE who cannot put shoes on their feet or feed their kids and the government continues it's cuts.....yet we spend spend spend on a few cute birds. Great stuff.


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