The little blue penguin and fishing rubbish....

Recently we had a very distressed little blue penguin come in to the centre, completely tangled up tightly in fishing line.

This poor chap had been caught up in this for a wee while as he was quite underweight. Upon inspection, the wildlife officers discovered that the line was wrapped tightly around his chest and he was struggling to breathe.

The awesome staff at Taradale Vet Hospital assisted in removing the line that was embedded in his skin. Once that came off he was able to take proper breaths!

He was transported to the National Aquarium in Napier where he was able to have some time to recover and gain some weight. He remained there for around 2 weeks.

The officers met up with the Aquarium staff and the Napier Port team and made their way to the penguin colony where he was released. This little guy was microchipped prior to release as this helps rehabilitators to identify any penguins that may have been helped before.

This was a great result for this little bird and a wonderful collaborative example of the different agencies involved.