Suspected dog attack wipes out Long Beach penguin colony near Dunedin

A Dunedin woman says it was “gutting” to discover the aftermath of a suspected dog attack on the local penguin colony.

Kat Solin told the Herald she was walking the beach with her family when she discovered the bodies of eight to 10 penguins.

She believed an off-leash dog had dug up the penguins’ nests and killed them overnight or early this morning, having seen dog footprints “everywhere”.

The Department of Conservation received a report at 12.45pm today that six penguins and two chicks had been found dead near their cave nests at Long Beach.

Acting operations manager for Coastal Otago Chris Hankin is appealing for information from the public as the department investigates the attack.

Solin said it’s “pretty much the whole population of our penguin colony down here”.

“The whole population wiped out in one go is just, yeah, gutting.”

Solin said despite the Department of Conservation signage, “we still get heaps of people coming down with dogs and just letting them off”.

While Solin suspected the dog’s owner had been busy climbing the rocks or fishing, she said there had also been a spate of roaming dog attacks in the area recently.

“They have had issues over in Pūrākaunui just across the hill with the penguins being attacked over there,” she said.

“We’ve had dog issues here with stock getting injured or killed from roaming dogs here. In the last 18 months, there’s been three attacks.”