September 2009

28 September 2009
King penguins recolonise Macquarie Island
(Australia)
Scientists are celebrating after discovering that king penguins are recolonising the subantarctic Macquarie Island Isthmus almost 100 years after the populations were slashed by commercial harvesting.
Read Australian Antarctic Division article
Read related ABC News article and watch video: King penguins make a comeback

22 September 2009
Penguin trust uses tourism angle to push for observers
(New Zealand)
The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust has sought the support of Tourism Dunedin for its campaign to ensure the continuation of observer programmes on commercial fishing vessels. The Ministry of Fisheries ran a two-month observer programme last summer investigating the interaction between fishing vessels and protected species.
Read Otago Daily Times article

Rat poison discovered in dead penguins
(New Zealand)
Tests on five little blue penguins recovered from Auckland's Long Bay beach found two had traces of rat poison in their livers – but at levels too low to have killed them. Vets at Auckland Zoo found the birds probably starved to death, which the Department of Conservation said was not uncommon for penguins in winter.
Read NZ Herald article

19 September 2009
Penguins this teacher's pet
(New Zealand)
A one-year fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand is giving an Opunake teacher Mark Meyburg the chance to study Taranaki’s dwindling penguin population. Mr Meyburg will spend next year working with New Zealand's Department of Conservation to assess and monitor the nesting habits and breeding success of penguins on the Taranaki coast.
Read Taranaki Daily News article at Stuff.co.nz

12 September 2009
Rare bird healing at Penguin Place
(New Zealand)
A rare Fiordland crested penguin has started making human friends at Dunedin’s Penguin Place hospital after being rescued from Haast on the West Coast eight days ago.
Read Otago Daily Times article

10 September 2009
Census shows penguin decline
(Australia)
The annual census of nests and burrows on Granite Island at Victor Harbor in South Australia has given disappointing results – a continuing decline in fairy penguin numbers.
Read ABC News article

9 September 2009
Maremmas 'top dogs' for environmental award
(Australia)
The ground-breaking maremma dog trail on Victoria's Middle Island, implemented to protect the island's little penguin colony, has won the Australian Government Coastcare category at the Victorian Landcare Awards, Victoria's most prestigous environmental award.
Read The Warrnambool Standard article

Pinky died of a heart attack
(South Africa)
Pinky, a rockhopper penguin who washed up on a beach in East London in January 2005, has died suddenly at Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town.
Read Daily Dispatch Online article

4 September 2009
Study links Phillip Island penguin breeding patterns to climate change
Scientists say Phillip Island’s little penguins are hatching smaller chicks, as changing weather conditions caused by climate change disrupt their normal feeding patterns. The study was published by researchers from Australia, France and Japan.
Reaad ABC News article

2 September 2009
New centre ready to save penguins
(South Africa)
The new SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre (SAMREC) in Port Elizabeth has been launched and even has its first patient – a badly oiled African penguin named Hope.
Read The Weekend Post Online article and watch video of Hope

	Web penguin.net.nz