A Tale of Two Little Penguins

Flightless they may be; but that didn’t rule out a trip to Sydney airport for two very special Little Penguins!

Following a long stay at Taronga Zoo, where the rescued penguins had been undergoing specialist veterinary treatment for serious injuries sustained by fishing line entanglement, these two were ready to go home. As was another member of the group, who had been overseas attending a Wildlife Conference. Saving several birds with one phone, the round trip was made to collect the Little Penguins from Taronga Zoo.

I was invited to join the group to observe the long-awaited release of the penguins. As an on-call rescuer that day, I didn’t arrive empty-handed either. I picked up a bedraggled rainbow lorikeet en route. (MOP thought he’d become involved in a skirmish with a diamond python in her garden. His condition was nothing to do with the snake, but was the dreaded beak and feather disease.) He was settled and left to quietly de-stress in a covered container, while we picked our way carefully to the shoreline: with two very firmly wrapped cardboard boxes. (Although full-grown adult Little Penguins only weigh about 1kg each, the ice and packaging were a little heavier!) 

The ice in the boxes was starting to melt. The two little penguins inside got a whiff of home and emitted a few excited, but rather indignant, snorting yelps. “Hurry up! Hurry up!” 

With the grind and crunch of pebbly sand beneath our feet, and the clear sparkling sea in front of us, we picked the release spot. A few beach-goers watched us with curiosity, and friendly but serious heartfelt banter about discarded line ensued with a fisherman on nearby rocks. The last thing we wanted to see was the Little Penguins in trouble again.  

Closer now was the colony our two little blue-and-white-feathered pals called home. The burrows in which they’d hatched, moulted and rested would, hopefully, be a safe place for them to incubate eggs themselves to help increase the number of this protected species: the smallest of 17 penguin species in the world. Apart from the dangers of discarded fishing gear and plastic pollution, colonies of the magical ‘Fairy Penguin’ as they used to be called, are frequent victims of fox predation. 

Now microchipped, the future progress of these two rescued penguins would be monitored by the Threatened Species Unit. 

And now the release! (Or time to p-pick up a penguin.) Firm, but gentle, handling  was absolutely crucial at this stage. The Little Penguins were paddling, flapping and could not wait a minute longer! There was to be no comical Disney-character waddle-dance from these two: “Just let me at that water you smelly human!”

As rescuers, we all know that wonderful moment. Job done!

• In Warrnambool, Victoria, the Middle Island Maremma Project is a world first and hugely successful conservation project. In 2005 there were less than 10 Little Penguins left on the once thriving colony, decimated by foxes. Following the introduction of specially trained Maremma dogs to protect the birds, their numbers increased and by 2013 there were an estimated 180 Little Penguins on Middle Island. Now that is a Fairy (Penguin) story! (‘Oddball’ released 2015 tells the tale.)