Dog used to tally up Eastbourne penguins

A specially trained sniffer dog has been sent to Eastbourne to keep its waddling residents out of harm’s way.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) trained dog, Mena, and her handler Alastair Judkins from Kaiko¯ura, have begun a 10-day survey to take stock of Little Blue Penguin numbers in Eastbourne’s Eastern Bays as part of development plans for a shared pathway.

Hutt City Council road and transport senior project engineer Simon Cager said information on bird numbers and nesting sites would be used to minimise any impact on the penguins when designing the pathway.

The survey would be carried out along the landward side of Marine Dr and the information would be combined with findings from a similar survey undertaken by Judkins and Mena last year which concentrated on the seaward side of the road.

‘‘We need to connect the dots. We need to understand how the penguins are moving and where they nest,’’ Cager said .

The survey was part of a wider investigation of how the pathway could affect the ecology of the area.

Forms seeking permission to access properties had been sent to residents ahead of the survey and Cager said the response had been good.

DOC senior biodiversity ranger Brent Tandy said Wellington was lucky to have native wildlife such as penguins close to human populations and there were a number of ways to protect them.

Development projects along the coastline should try to avoid penguin nesting areas and consider ways of preserving or aiding access to nesting habitat.

‘‘Under-road tunnels might be worthwhile to allow penguins access to suitable nesting areas further ashore.’’

Although DOC did not hold statistics for the population of little blues in Eastbourne, the population in Wellington Harbour was thought to be ‘‘healthy and increasing’’ with more than 1000 birds, most nesting on MatiuSomes Island.

That contrasted with the national population which DOC classed as ‘‘at risk, declining’’ with numbers estimated to be between 5000 and 20,000.