Story telling via social media

Read on full page ………….. Are you curious?  Do you love to share stories and photos?  Are you keen to encourage actions that would help protect penguins and encourage donations?  Are you familiar with facebook and perhaps basic website editing (we use WordPress) or newsletters (we use something similar to MailChimp)? We would love your […]

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Fundraising in any number of ways

Read on full page ………….. This is an absolutely critical function for the trust, it’s endless and sometimes frustrating and disappointing, perhaps when carefully worded funding applications fail.  But, with funding support apparently gone from DOC, it’s more important and more urgent than ever. Fundraising can fill people with dread, especially when asking for donations […]

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Fiordland crested penguin predator study

Dr Thomas Mattern Jackson Head 2014 setting trail camera KJW

  In order to understand whether and if so which predators were contributing to an apparent decline in the numbers of Fiordland crested penguins, the West Coast Penguin Trust embarked on a four year study using trail cameras in 2014. For the 2019 season, which followed a ‘mega-mast’ seed event and predicted rat and subsequently […]

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Education

Grey Main School Feb 2017, Hokitika beach activity

Education plays a key part in the West Coast Penguin Trust’s activities. We are welcomed into schools, armed with Kevin the taxidermy Kororā and Toni the Tawaki (fiordland crested penguin; the South Island West Coast’s second resident penguin). We visit schools and educate the students about penguins, thus encouraging discussions about the environment and conservation […]

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Fiordland crested penguin

Tawaki on nest - Robin Long r

Māori Name Tawaki Scientific Name Eudyptes pachyrhynchus Other Names Used Fiordland penguin   The Fiordland crested penguin, or tawaki, has had its threat classification reduced from ‘Nationally Endangered’ to ‘Nationally Vulnerable’ and most recently to ‘Declining’ as the population is found to be larger than previously thought.   However it remains one of the rarest penguins […]

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Remembering to say thank you

September 2025 In the constant hustle of grant applications, project implementation, and reporting, it can be easy to overlook the simple yet important gesture of expressing gratitude to the organisations that provide funding. The process can become so focused on getting the work done, all the essential behind the scenes efforts, meeting deadlines, and fulfilling […]

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