Waihi Beach School students are little blue penguin guardians

Waihi Beach School students get the run-down on predators of the little blue penguin.

Waihi Beach School students are acting as guardians of Anzac Bay’s little blue penguin colony.

The school has a Little Blue Penguin guardian project — a predator-trapping project focusing on the protection of the little blue penguin colony at Anzac Bay. This is the first part of the rollout of Predator-Free Bowentown, which will start later in the new year.

Live Well Waihi Beach’s Pippa Coombes says they had the support of Western Bay Wildlife Trust, with little blue penguin expert Melissa McLuskie talking to the group about how special the little blue penguins are, how they are monitored and why controlling predators and other key threats are important to support the colony at Anzac Bay.

The workshop included meeting Melissa’s taxidermy friends Penny, Scruffy and Pipi, and a beach clean around Anzac Bay.

“Engaging the tamariki with hands-on activities is a fun way to teach them all about the life cycle of penguins and their special adaptations. Learning about what it takes to look after them hopefully inspires the next generation of wildlife warriors to protect their own local little blues,” Melissa says.

The group then met with trapping co-ordinators Doug Longdill and Phil Bower from Waihi Beach Environment Society, who had with them multiple taxidermied target predators, including feral cats, possums and mustelids, along with target predator traps.

Doug made comment that it was really important to discuss each target predator with the kids, ‘’so they understood why we predator-trap, the impact those predators have on the environment. They also needed to know that all the traps used at Anzac Bay are National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee approved to kill instantly and humanely.”.

The group then went bush with Doug, Phil and Pippa and set up tracking tunnels to monitor the types of predators and trap lines to catch only target predators such as rats, mustelids, hedgehogs and possums.

They were taught how to bait, remove the dead animals and reset the traps.

- Supplied

∗ To get involved in Predator Free Bowentown in early 2023 email Pippa at livewellwaihibeach@gmail.com