If you see a kororā/little blue penguin out on land during the daytime it needs help urgently. Please call us on 0204739464.
Waiheke’s Native Bird Rescue has been “super busy” admitting starving kororā as reports come in of dead ones found on the island’s beaches.
“We have admitted eight kororā between 15 and 26 November and currently have two survivors. They come to us suffering from starvation and on death’s doorstep. They are hyperthermic, hyperglycaemic, severely underweight and in such poor body condition their chances of survival are slim,” says founder-manager Karen Saunders.
“During the recent wet weather we have been receiving two or three emails or phone calls most days about dead kororā found on northern beaches, with 15 of those reports verified. They have been young kororā, either chicks that have left the nest in desperation due to abandonment as the parents haven’t been finding enough food to feed them or very recent fledglings. The have all been between one third to one half of the average body weight. I know of five that have been admitted to clinics in Auckland and only one is currently surviving. Three of these are most likely to have been from Waiheke and would have been blown across with the northerly wind directions we have had.”
Full story in this week’s Gulf News… Out Now!!!
