PENGUIN PROTECTORS
Meet the couple saving the birds.
Shireen Helps has to be particularly careful when walking around her home in the dark. She treads lightly, trying not to trip on her neighbours that are lying in the garden and on the path that leads to the front door. These neighbours of hers are noisy, especially at night. So much so that visitors staying with the Helps often struggle to get to sleep. They’re not your typical neighbours – these are of the feathered kind. Shireen and her husband, Francis live in the middle of a penguin colony – one they have helped bring back from the brink of decline.
The couple, now in their 70s, have lived on their remote farm in Pōhatu Flea Bay on the southeast side of
Banks Peninsula for over 50 years. The Helps family have dedicated that time to protecting the kororā (Little Blue Penguins) from introduced predators, and now, Pōhatu is home to the largest colony of Little Penguins on mainland New Zealand. This year, Francis and Shireen were recognised as Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit for their services to wildlife conservation.
Shireen, who moved to Francis’ farm in 1974, says ending up at the isolated bay was like a dream come true. “There was beautiful native forest in the gullies with waterfalls, crystal-clear streams full of native fish, and in the bush, rich biodiversity of birds, lizards and insects.”
But soon after moving to Pōhatu, they learned the penguins were in serious trouble. “[They were] disappearing at an alarming rate due to predation and gill net fishing,” says Shireen. “[I felt] the Department of Conservation (DOC) had put the plight of the Little Penguin in the ‘too hard basket’ to save on the mainland, but Francis and I were unwilling to accept that would be the case for our penguins so we began the predator trapping. In 2000 when the first survey was done, our success was obvious and DOC became interested in helping add another trap line out from ours.” Since then, they’ve worked hard to protect their feathered neighbours, implementing measures such as
predator trapping, monitoring, rehabilitation and education programmes. Now the Pōhatu penguin colony has 1,260 breeding pairs.
Shireen has also helped rehabilitate many injured, sick and undernourished penguins. The most common situations are starving chicks or skinny adults during the moulting stage, when they shed their feathers and wait for new ones to grow. Shireen and her team look after the penguins during this period, feeding them and taking them to the nearby stream for swims until they are ready to be released back to the wild.
The Helps’ work goes beyond the penguin colony. Early on, they gifted the Tutakakahikura Scenic Reserve and over the years, they’ve placed a number of covenants through the QEII National Trust and Banks Peninsula Trust, inspired by their neighbours Mark and Sonya Armstrong and Hugh Wilson. “The collective inspiration spread from property to property, and the Wildside of Banks Peninsula was formed, and now that has spread to the vision of predator-free Banks Peninsula.”
The couple, who have always considered themselves farmer conservationists, have pioneered a way of farming that is in line with nature. Embracing eco-tourism has been a big part of their success. In the 1980s, when many farmers suffered an economic downturn, the Helps joined fellow farmers in forming the first private walking track in New Zealand, now the popular 31-km Banks Peninsula Track. Shireen also formed Pohatu Penguins, an eco-tourism business that offers penguin tours, sea kayaking safaris and farmstays. “Over on our side of Banks Peninsula, most farmers are very conservation minded,” says Shireen. “We have proven two people can make a difference. We are not special. Anybody with a mind for nature can make a difference.”
“WE ARE NOT SPECIAL. ANYBODY WITH A MIND FOR NATURE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.” SHIREEN HELPS
Shireen admits all the decades spent traipsing over rugged hills, setting traps and caring for penguins has left her worn out – the aches and pains serving as physical reminders of the incredible legacy they have created. Right now, the couple are attempting to retire, but somehow still find themselves busy with new projects. Francis helps their son Daniel on the farm and supports other farmers trying to covenant their native forest and wetlands. Shireen stays closer to home, looking after the chickens and a breeding flock of rare sheep. She is also working on their sixth covenant, a restoration project that aims to regenerate nikau palms, mamaku, kahikatea and other native trees that once covered the land.
“Rather than just let nature take its course in natural regeneration I am trying to speed things up by hastening the regeneration of trees that would have been here hundreds of years ago,” she explains. “I spend many hours caring for my nursery and planting out and caring for young trees. I will never see the glory of it, but hopefully my grandchildren will.”