You never know what you might come across while out walking along the Coast. While the rest of the Group on the on Sunday 17th Tora Coastal Walk February went north to see the seals at Manurewa Point, Ian Hollins and Catherine Sinclair from Wellington ventured south to see the Opua shipwreck. They came upon a very sad looking penguin on the rocks nearby.
Returning to pick up their daypacks from the Boyne’s Cookhouse they showed us a photo and asked if we would do something for it. While we do see the little blue penguins from time to time, this one was larger than the usual marine visitors.
We sent an email to the SPCA and the Wellington Zoo. The SPCA redirected us to the DOC hotline, who told us- unless it was injured we were to leave it alone as there are lots of penguins on the rocks at this time of the year. They didn’t seem very interested in having a photo sent to them either.
Fortunately, Wellington Zoo followed up with a call and an email to see how we were getting along as they thought he might be a Fiordland crested Penguin.
On Monday morning after a call to the local DOC office for info on the temperament of a penguin, Alistair Boyne (the penguin whisperer) gently picked him up and popped him in a fish bin where he sat quietly for the most part for the road trip to Wellington in the back seat – with the air con cranked as per instructions from the team at the Zoo.
Christine Wilton from Tuturumuri came along for the ride and using a spray bottle, spritzed his feathers and beak during the 2 hr journey into the City.
When we arrived the team at the Zoo told us he had about a 15-20 percent survival chance, as he was very underweight, severely dehydrated and more likely than not suffering from kidney failure. Sadly five days later he died from suspected multiple organ failure.
The visitor was a Royal penguin from the Macquarie Islands and after travelling 2000kms was just too weak to survive. He was also only the fourth confirmed sighting of a royal penguin on New Zealand shores in over a Century- at Napier 1880-81, Lyall Bay June 1926 and at Cape Palliser February 2007.
