Antarctic attraction charges 'penguin' parking
06 Aug 2009
Visitors to the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, might not think twice about paying to park, but they could be surprised to learn that each time they feed the parking meter, they’re helping save a penguin.
The Antarctic Centre’s ‘Park for Penguins’ campaign has been set up to support the penguin recovery programme at Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsula, and in the past two years the popular tourist attraction has donated NZ$21,300 in car-parking revenue.
Unique penguins
White flippered penguins are unique to the Christchurch and Canterbury region - in New Zealand's South Island - and are more endangered than the better known yellow-eyed penguins.
"When people visit the International Antarctic Centre by vehicle, they pay a small parking fee and it is these monies that go back directly into the penguin conservation programme at le Bons Bay," centre director Richard Benton said.
Trapping programme
Since Spring 2007, the NZ Department of Conservation (DOC) and Le Bons Bay enviro-school have run a trapping programme to help remove introduced predatory species that consistently attack native wildlife, including the white flippered penguins.
Funding provided by the International Antarctic Centre helps pay for the traps and labour.
So far, the trapping programme has removed 10 ferrets, 37 feral cats, 16 stoats, 24 weasels, 285 hedgehogs, 83 rats, 61 possums, and nine mice.
Penguin population rise
The results of trapping have seen an impressive 25% increase in penguin nests counted on the north side of Le Bons Bay in the past two years.
Nine pairs of penguins have also been recorded in an area where the population was completely wiped out during the 1990s.
The trap lines are also helping other native species to recover, and populations of New Zealand native birds - particularly fantails and pigeons - are now on the increase at Le Bons Bay.
Life-long conservationist, Robin Burleigh, who has helped with the successful penguin colony protection and trapping programmes around Flea and Stony Bays on the Banks Peninsula, says it consistently takes at least five years before the real impact of the work is evident.
Wild side
The trapping team hopes to extend the programme to Lavericks and Hickory bays, also on Banks Peninsula, in the next 12 months.
The International Antarctic Centre will help to fund a "wild side" coordinator to bring this and other conservation programmes together to continue achieving even better results.
"This in my opinion is a really good example of business and the community working together to make a real difference for conservation," Benton said.
"The team at the International Antarctic Centre are really proud of the work that the Le Bons Bay community and the Department of Conservation are doing in this area."
Background: White flippered penguin
White flippered penguins nest and breed only on Banks Peninsula and Motunau Island, in Canterbury, New Zealand.
A sub-species of New Zealand's North Island and Chatham Island little penguin, the white flippered penguin is considered endangered as there are only about 3,750 breeding pairs left.
Distinguished by the white markings on its flippers that are unique to its sub-species, the white flippered penguin is small at about 30cm tall and 1.5kg.
White flippered penguins live in headlands, caves, rocks and in the sheltered areas at the base of bays. They lay eggs in burrows of tree brush, dunes or vegetated slopes from July to December.
The white flippered penguin is primarily nocturnal on land, making it unique among penguins. They also differ from other penguins by staying with the colony - leaving only under cover of darkness and returning before dawn.
Regarded as quite aggressive, the birds will take on a defensive stance and either growl or bray to emphasise their feelings.
White flippered penguins feed on small shoaling fish such as pilchards, anchovies or cephalopods which they catch by pursuit diving. They mostly feed within 25km of the coast.
More information:
Iconic New Zealand birds
Bird conservation in New Zealand
Christchurch - Canterbury region
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