AR-News: (Australia)Protected penguins have again been killed in controlled burn by officials

[Snugglezzz at aol.com]

Penguins die in burn-off
June 30, 2004

PROTECTED little penguins have again been killed in a controlled burn by parks and wildlife officials at a key NSW breeding ground.

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service said three little penguins were today been found dead after the burn on Montague Island, off the NSW south coast.

The burn was part of a six year program aimed at removing kikuyu grass to help restore Montague's seabird population and stop the island's population of little penguins from becoming entangled in the weed.

In 2001, more than 40 breeding penguins died when the service set fire to grass which had overgrown the penguins' breeding burrows on the island.

NPWS chief Tony Fleming said a search had been carried out before the latest burn to try to remove animals, and even though three penguins had been found dead, the operation was still a success. 


 
 
 
  
 
 


"In the bigger picture the burn was a success and it was managed very successfully.

"It is always regrettable, but we needed to keep in mind the bigger picture and the possibility of losing the whole penguin population from a lightning strike in the dead grass.

"There is also evidence that the kikuyu is directly responsible for causing a lot more deaths than the process of removing it."

The burn area focused on one hectare of dry grass and had been studied for 12 months in a bid to identify all the penguins in the area.

Montague Island is one of the main breeding grounds of the little penguin – at between 30cm and 35cm tall the smallest of all penguin species.

Once fairly common on the Australian mainland, colonies of little penguins are now generally restricted to offshore islands. 

AAP