On Facebook, the West Coast Wildlife Centre has announced the number of little blue penguins that they will hold; that being seven. The penguin enclosure is still scheduled to be complete and open to the public on October 18 this year.
Birds In New Zealand Zoos
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
ElephasMaximus
Well-Known Member
Since all the little blue penguins in captivity in this country are either rescues or the offspring of rescues, how come no other penguin species have come into captivity this way, such as yellow-eyed or Fiordland crested penguins? Do not enough individuals come ashore in need of rescue, or does DOC have some policy against it?
There are couple reasons why I suspect
-most fiordland penguins go to taronga to be part of their colony, as they have more space and a pretty good track record with their penguins.
- to hold a rehab longer then 3 months you need docs permission, so I guess its sometimes easier to send them off
Most other species i guess don't wash up often enough
-most fiordland penguins go to taronga to be part of their colony, as they have more space and a pretty good track record with their penguins.
- to hold a rehab longer then 3 months you need docs permission, so I guess its sometimes easier to send them off
Most other species i guess don't wash up often enough
In regards to Fiordland crested penguin, I would assume insufficient numbers are available. Wellington have treated several; but they’re only retained if their injuries render them unable to survive in the wild.
Four of Taronga’s five founders were rescued from Australian beaches. Only one came from New Zealand (via Wellington Zoo). Since they’re taking active steps to increase their flock size, the implication is they’d take all the penguins they can get and that’s in the eight years that have passed since Gari was sent over over, there haven’t been more come in (that weren’t releasable following treatment).