With little penguins thriving on the sea side the West Coast Penguin Trust’s penguin protection fence north of Punakaiki, penguins are starting to explore beyond the three colonies that were protected and finding their way past the ends of the fence through gaps. Sadly one penguin has been killed on the road and others have been rescued and returned to the sea side of the fence.
We’re therefore thrilled to report that one of those gaps in the fence has just been filled, protecting penguins at the northern end of the main fence line just in time for the new breeding season.
Our thanks go to WestReef for getting the work done the minute they were able to including the traffic management and other safety measures, and to Waka Kotahi for both permission and support through an annual grant to help maintain the fence.
We would also like to thank Geofabrics New Zealand for the very generous discount on the special fence mesh. Geofabrics (then Maccaferri) helped us out in the same way when we first installed the penguin protection fence back in 2014. The mesh has stood up to the coastal assaults of sun and salt brilliantly, just as expected.
