It is a year since the Rena grounded, thousands of birds died and approximately 450 little blue penguins were saved, rehabilitated and released with much ado by local politicians about our precious environment.
Yet one year on, those words were indeed cheap because most of those Little Blue Penguins nest around Mauao and Leisure Island and the Councils' poor management of rats and stoats is scandalous. There is so much public goodwill towards our local penguins that there would be plenty of public support to close Leisure Island and Mauao for a couple of weeks a year during the off season before nesting for intensive pest control. Further, it flabbergasts me that when Mauao is closed because of slips, as periodically happens, opportunity is not taken at that time for more invasive pest control.
It is heartbreaking for those of us who were extensively involved in wildlife recovery and continue with ongoing nocturnal monitoring, to see such neglect of council responsibility.

Tim Short, Ohauiti.