Taronga Zoo fiordland penguins in Australia

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zebra finch

Member
I noticed with great interest a young female Fiordland crested penguin has turned up in Adelaide. There is a debate going on about wether or not she should be in a zoo. As it will probably take lots of money to feed her and restore her back to health why don't the vets think about sending her to Taronga Zoo to be with Mr Munro. He is all alone there and his species is endangered and is unlikely to be helped under our National government.

Also this female could pick up new diseases while here in Australia and Mr Munroe and the two deceased females were not to be returned to NZ in case they bring back new diseases. Department of conservation does not even have a recovery plan for this endangered species!:(
 
zebra finch said:
I noticed with great interest a young female Fiordland crested penguin has turned up in Adelaide. There is a debate going on about wether or not she should be in a zoo. As it will probably take lots of money to feed her and restore her back to health why don't the vets think about sending her to Taronga Zoo to be with Mr Munro. He is all alone there and his species is endangered and is unlikely to be helped under our National government.

Also this female could pick up new diseases while here in Australia and Mr Munroe and the two deceased females were not to be returned to NZ in case they bring back new diseases. Department of conservation does not even have a recovery plan for this endangered species!:(
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From the news reports I have read, they are planning on re-habilitating her and sending her to New Zealand to be released in the wild. I think it might be different rules in different states in regards to keeping stray seals and penguins in captivity, with New South Wales being very strict about it. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
zebra finch said:
Thankyou for your post. I am not sure about rules regarding stray penguins in Captivity and wish I could find out more.
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For example, but I don't think this is 100% correct, but I believe that if a leopard seal washes onshore in New South Wales it cannot be released back into the wild but if the same thing it happens in Tasmania it can be re-habilitated and released back into the wild. That is how Taronga got their leopard seals, they were both washed onshore and were nt allowed to be released back into the wild.
 
Jabiru96 said:
From the news reports I have read, they are planning on re-habilitating her and sending her to New Zealand to be released in the wild.
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Which news reports are these? (Could you link them please?)

Although it may happen, I think it unlikely the bird would be flown to NZ and released. The best option, despite Mr. Machado's PC nonsense [in various articles his name is Adam, Aaron and Kelly!!], is for the penguin to go to Taronga Zoo. The zoo has in fact already been approached about this.
Tug of war for miracle Katrina | adelaidenow
KATRINA the miracle penguin has become the subject of an interstate battle, as rescuers resist attempts by Sydney's Taronga Zoo to take ownership.

Rescuer Aaron Machado has rejected a request put to him yesterday via the Environment and Natural Resources Department that he hand over the animal to the zoo's penguin experts.

"Katrina has for the first time today eaten fish from my hand and if she was made to travel now she would die on the way," he said.

Katrina drifted for around 3000km from her home on the remote South West of New Zealand, arriving in the South-East of SA last Friday. She is one of only 3000 of her kind in the world and Mr Machado is insisting she be returned to her homeland.

A spokeswoman for Taronga Zoo said it had been approached by South Australian authorities to see if it could join its lone Fiordland Penguin, Mr Munro.

Mr Machado, head of the Australian Marine Wildlife Research and Rescue Organisation on Torrens Island, said the standard time to assess stressed birds was 120 hours before stability.

"Taronga want Katrina because three Fiordland Penguins drifted to NSW and a male survived," he said.

A DENR spokeswoman said that the department was investigating how best to deal with the penguin, had received a request from the Taronga Zoo and had also contacted the New Zealand government.
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Chlidonias said:
Which news reports are these? (Could you link them please?)

Although it may happen, I think it unlikely the bird would be flown to NZ and released. The best option, despite Mr. Machado's PC nonsense [in various articles his name is Adam, Aaron and Kelly!!], is for the penguin to go to Taronga Zoo. The zoo has in fact already been approached about this.
Tug of war for miracle Katrina | adelaidenow
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Sorry I haven't found the article on the Internet but I believe it was in the printed Sunday/Daily Telegraph newspaper IIRC. It does mention them considering releasing the bird back to the wild tho.
 
if its the same as the reports I've seen on the internet (I can't find many though), that's just Mr. Machado saying the zoo can go get stuffed (his words) and he wants the penguin returned to NZ. That's not the same as "planning on re-habilitating her and sending her to New Zealand to be released in the wild." Its just him mouthing off.
 
Thank you very much for your posts about Katrina. and thanks for bringing up the news that Taronga's zoo is interested. I was wondering about that as I saw nothing about this on the Taronga zoo website. It would very interesting if Taronga could accomodate Katrina and breed her with Mr Munro.
 
Penguin carer told to let Katrina swim back - National - NZ Herald News
20 May 2012

The intrepid Fiordland penguin who swam 3000km to Australia will have to repeat the feat if she wants to get home, with the Department of Conservation saying plans to fly her back are unnecessary.

The stroppy 2-year-old penguin named Katrina washed up on a beach near Mount Gambier, South Australia, two weeks ago.

Bird rescue worker Aaron Machado, who is rehabilitating Katrina, was fighting suggestions she be put in a zoo for good and had wanted to fly her home.

But Michelle Gutsell, leader of the Department of Conservation Te Anau office species recovery team, said Katrina had a good chance of making it back to New Zealand under her own steam.

"She will have that homing instinct. These birds spend a lot of time in the water, they are sea-goers, that's what they do. She will be fine."

While Machado had offered to pay for Katrina's flight, Gutsell said she would rather see the money put towards other wildlife projects in Australia.

Since the Herald on Sunday broke the news of Katrina's Tasman crossing last week, the penguin has had surgery on a large gash to her abdomen, and put on a kilogram so she tips the scales at 2.7kg. She had enjoyed her first swim since the crossing, Machado said.

She had also maintained her stroppy attitude, he said.

"She's a grumpy little girl."

It would be at least a month, but likely longer, before she was ready for release, though he still preferred the idea of a flight home.
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and a summary so far:
The Pertinent Penguin
25 May 2012

If New Zealand's Olympic swimmers have the endurance of our penguins, then we're looking good for gold at London 2012.

A Fiordland penguin, named Katrina after her rescuer, was found, starving and injured, on a beach near Mount Gambier, South Australia on 4 May. She would have swum an amazing 3,000km from her New Zealand home.

But her presence across the Tasman caused controversy as wildlife rescuers and authorities argued about her future.

South Australia's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) requested that she be moved immediately to a zoo to become a permanent exhibit animal.

The Australian Marine Wildlife Research & Rescue Organisation (AMWRRO), which is caring for Katrina, wanted to rehabilitate her and give her another chance in the wild - by either flying her back to New Zealand or releasing her to swim back by herself.

AMWRRO contacted the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) for advice and offered to pay for Katrina's airfare. However, Michelle Gutsell, leader of the DOC Te Anau office species recovery team, told the NZ Herald that a flight was unnecessary as Katrina's homing instinct gave her a good chance of making it on her own.

"These birds spend a lot of time in the water, they are sea-goers, that's what they do. She will be fine," she said.

In a victory for the AMWRRO, the DENR changed its original decision to move Katrina to a zoo and granted the rescue organisation permission to keep rehabilitating her.

Katrina recently underwent a successful 2.5 hour operation to close up her large abdominal wound. Now all the "grumpy" penguin has to do is heal, grow back her waterproof feathers and regain weight.

Then she'll be ready for the long swim home.
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That's good news!

:p

Hix
 
"Good news"?..if "the wild" is automatically good news then surely the assumption is that captivity is wrong.Im rapidly reaching exasperation point with aussie/New Zealand wildlife regulations,i dont know why they just dont ban zoos altogether and be done with it.And pet keeping too, that way they could just have agricultural animals because that economic model seems to over-rule every other consideration.And the time [therefore money]that has been spent contemplating the future of one animal that would be quite happy in a zoo..bloody ridiculous!
 
I think it pretty unlikely the bird will make it back to NZ anyway. It is way out of range, and it was in bad shape when it washed up on shore in Australia which has to tell you something. It was never going to be flown back to NZ to be released and letting it go off the Australian coast is (IMO) pointless, so I still think the most humane thing would be to send it to Taronga.
 
The Australian Marine Wildlife Research and Rescue Organisation sounds like it is against animals being kept in captivity and zoos. Anyone believe different.

I think they would prefer they did not know what happens to it when released to it, just that it was released. They seem to prefer it dies free than go to Taronga.
 
Tim Brown said:
"Good news"?..if "the wild" is automatically good news then surely the assumption is that captivity is wrong.
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Then you're labouring under a false assumption.

While I would like Mr Munro to have a companion of his own species (he has plenty of Blue Penguins in his exhibit), I don't believe that justifies taking a penguin from the wild, which is essentially what Katrina is. If she was badly injured and could not be released, then that would be great, keep her in a zoo. But just because she's in captivity now doesn't mean we have to keep her that way.

In answer to the quote above, I believe captivity is good - but in this case the wild is better.

:p

Hix
 
shades of "happy feet", use it for pushing different humans agendas
spend lots of money, fatten it up, release it beyond its natural range
don't forget to strap some technology to it so all those can conjecture what ate it when it disappears off the GPS system
 
Tough one this. I agree with Hix in-principle and we have to assume the bird will be in good health when released, but survival does seem highly unlikely (...some seal will at least be happy).
 
Phew..im a little bit amazed by this outburst of zoo-liberalism,its amost akin to "well,if we HAVE to have zoos theyre okay i suppose".I have NO issue with taking animals from wild at all[providing it is done humanely]...in fact one of the best places you have in Australia,the Alice Springs Desert Park, has clearly removed many species from the wild[this was done under scientific and welfare criteria].That bloody penguin would have been quite content at Taronga with a decent supply of fish and a bit of swimming space..for goodness sakes get over it!
 
Presumably everyone who's on this site loves zoos, but it's not the 1800s (or even 1900s for that matter) anymore. Zoos should no longer exist just for people's amusement. With more and more species heading for extinction in the wild, zoos have an extremely important role to take in conservation (from basic education/awareness about animals and their threats through to very active roles with threatened species care, breeding, relocation and reintroduction to the wild as appropriate).
 
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