Beanbags proposed to protect penguins from seals

AUSTRALIA - Another suggestion from the Kangaroo Island Penguin Centre in South Australia to reduce the number of New Zealand fur seals in the area has received no support from the SA Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR), ABC News reported.

The island's New Zealand fur seal population was almost eradicated by commercial sealing in the 1800s, but their numbers are now about 25,000. While this is good news for the seals, some Kangaroo Island residents believe these predators are responsible for the decline of the local little penguin population, which is a major tourist attraction.

Penguin chicks found mauled to death

AUSTRALIA - Fifteen dead little penguin chicks have been found near the Kingscote breeding colony on Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

The Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board (KINRMB) said that as penguins only fledge between two to four chicks per year, this will have a devastating impact on this section of Kingscote’s colony.

It is thought the chicks were mauled by a dog or a cat. There was a similar attack in the same area just over a year ago.

Motion cameras set up in some of Kingcote's colonies as part of a project aimed at identifying some of the management issues associated with colonies in Gulf St Vincent have detected feral and domestic cats and several dogs sniffing around penguin burrows. On at least two occasions the cameras have captured footage of a domestic cat attacking penguin chicks.

The Natural Resources Management Board said it will continue to investigate and  hopefully identify the culprit responsible for these latest deaths.

A little penguin census will be underway soon, with counting of the birds being done at four locations on the island.

Sources
Catastrophe for chicks, The Kangaroo Islander, 6 October 2011
Penguin chicks killed on Kangaroo Island, ABC News, 7 October 2011

Seal cull not neccesarily way to protect South Australia's penguins

AUSTRALIA - The South Australian Department of Environment has confirmed it has been lobbied for a New Zealand fur seal cull or relocation program as a possible way to halt the decline of the little penguin population on Kangaroo Island.

While the number of penguins in the Victor Harbor/Kangaroo Island region has plummeted, the seal population is now up to 30,000.

John Ayliffe, manager of Kangaroo Island Penguin Centre told The Advertiser that there were about 40 seals specialising on hunting penguins on or near the island.

"There are significant numbers of people who are speculating on [a cull] to maintain a balanced ecosystem," he said, adding that it was not for him to advocate culling as it was a political decision, but it was worth trying to relocate some seals.

The Government's response has been to wait for more research before making a decision. A spokesman for the Department of Environment said that no option could be ruled out until an expert report was obtained in September.

On a local level, the Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board held an Overabundant Species Workshop in June in response the community's concerns. Experts at the workshop strongly advised the Board against any direct action towards New Zealand fur seals at this stage. Presiding Board Member Richard Trethewey told The Advertiser the Board wanted better research before identifying if a solution were needed but would not rule out any action, including a cull or relocation programme.

Meanwhile, penguin experts do not see a seal cull as a solution for the declining penguin population on nearby Granite Island, which is undergoing a census this month.

Researchers predict that this year's census will show a continuation of the devastating downward trend which has seen the island's penguin population drop from 1548 to 146 in the past decade, but say it has not been proven that fur seals are the cause of the decline.

Natalie Gilbert of Granite Island Nature Park told the Sunday Mail, "We need to investigate all possibilities. We shouldn't be making such important decisions [on culling seals] without being completely knowledgeable on the subject. We haven't been able to pinpoint the problem."

"Some colonies in South Australia have got seals close by - lots of them - and are doing fine. Others don't seem to have as many and seem to be suffering a lot more," she told ABC News.

Penguin ecologist Annelise Wiebkin told the Sunday Mail there was not not enough information to prove that culling the fur seals would work, and that the best way of dealing with the problem was managing things on the land.

"If land predators like cats, rats and dogs are an issue - which have been in other colonies in Australia - if we can address that and improve habitat, that might counteract things happening out at sea," she said.

To find out what is behind the Granite Island penguin population decline, researchers but have implemented measures such as motion sensors cameras to capture footage of predators in the penguin colonies, microchipping penguins for future identification, and a program encouraging people to bring in any dead penguins they discover for autopsy.

Vegetation on the island is also closely monitored to ensure it meets the penguins' needs and in July, students and volunteers installed 35 nesting boxes to encourage the birds to breed.

Read related posts:
Penguin houses installed to improve penguin numbers
NZ fur seal population boom could spell doom for Kangaroo Island's little penguins

Sources
Experts predict little penguin on brink of extinction by Kim Robertson, 16 August 2011, ABC News
Granite Island penguins are on the brink of being wiped out by Sarah Mennie, 13 August 2011, Sunday Mail
Calls to cull fur seals off Kangaroo Island by Miles Kemp, 8 August 2011, The Advertiser
Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board Meeting Minutes, 27 June 2011

NZ fur seal population boom could spell doom for Kangaroo Island's little penguins

New Zealand fur seals on Kangaroo
Island. Photo by Mike Lehmann.
Some rights reserved.

AUSTRALIA - What is good news for Kangaroo Island's New Zealand fur seals is bad news for its little penguins. The fur seal population in South Australia is exploding, and it could spell the end of large penguin colonies on the island.

New Zealand fur seals were nearly wiped out by early colonial sealing, Simon Goldsworthy, associate professor at Flinders University's School of Biological Sciences, told The Australian, when more than 100,000 fur seals were taken from Kangaroo Island.

Since commercial sealing stopped, however, the fur seal population has been increasing for at least the last 30 years according to the IUCN Red List.

Bill Haddrill, Kangaroo Island's conservation program manager with the Department for Environment and Heritage, told The Australian there are currently about 25,000 fur seals in Kangaroo Island waters, with the population expanding at a compound rate of 10-12% a year.

South Australia's wildlife authorities see this rebuilding of the fur seal population as a natural phenomenon, and say it would be futile to intervene.

However, Simone Somerfield feels somewhat differently about what she described as the "wholesale slaughter" by these furry predators of the little penguins who nest at her Penneshaw Penguin Centre on Kangaroo Island.

Three years ago, the penguin population at the centre was 200 birds. Today it is less than half a dozen.

Ms Somerfield has seen the predatory powers of the fur seals first-hand and said she didn't know how the penguins would survive on Kangaroo Island because of the way they were being attacked.

She told The Australian that at first she saw the penguins being taken one at a time and would say, "That's amazing, it's like David Attenborough."

"But then it was more and more and more, and then mass kills in which the seals were not even eating them. It was happening within 100m and you have a complete view, it was like watching a horror movie," she said.

But Mr Haddrill said that it was likely penguin numbers and distributions on Kangaroo Island were returning to historical norms.

"It is not clear if there has been a decline in the overall population or in the distribution along the shore line," he said. Kingscote, on the northern side of the island, now had a steady population of 700 to 800 breeding birds and, although the number of penguins on Penneshaw's main beach had significantly reduced, there were higher numbers at the nearby North Shore.

According to Professor Goldsworthy, there will always be little penguin colonies breeding on Kangaroo Island, but large colonies may be a thing of the past now the fur seal population is recovering.

Sources
Fate of island penguins appears sealed as hunted become hunters by Graham Lloyd, 26 March 2011, The Australian