French actors-cum-reporters, Laetitia Hipp and Emmanuel Suarez, are travelling the world for three months looking for marine conservation stories to share via podcasts on the French public media service. While staying right at the beach in Waihaha bach near Fox River, they found information about the West Coast Penguin Trust and got in touch.
Laetitia and Emmanuel interviewed Trust Manager, Inger Perkins, about the origins of the Trust, local blue penguins, penguin research and conservation as well as everything else that the Trust does including education and advocacy.
The lovely bach, owned by a generous Supporter of the trust, is right above the beach and, with waves crashing noisily just metres away, the interview took place indoors. At the end of the interview, there was an opportunity to promote the trust to any future French listener – there may be some wonderful French folk who would love to support the work of the trust if they only knew about it!
The three then went down to the beach where footprints in the sand prompted discussion about being a penguin detective – a handy tool used by Education Ranger, Lucy Waller, with children on beach visits. You can find out more about identifying footprints in this useful guide from NZ Tracker.
If you’re wondering, the French for penguin is manchot (m) or manchote (f) .
And if you’re wondering about the acting element, Laetitia and Emmanuel present environmental education shows in France, often using puppets. Their company name is ‘et demain la terre‘ – which translates as ‘and tomorrow the earth’. It was a great pleasure to meet this couple and their three children on their three month trip. The podcast will be created when they are back in France and will be published mid 2023. As we often hear on RNZ interviews using another language, the English interview will start and then a translator will present the conversation in French.
Most penguins form lifelong partnerships - known as partner fidelity. Pairs work together to protect and nurture their young and some, including the emperor penguin, cooperate with others for the wellbeing of the group. This is translated to time invested in building long-term relationships, and being dependable and dedicated.
Penguins live in a variety of habitats and zones from equatorial Galapagos Islands to southern Australian and New Zealand coasts, South American and south African coasts to sub Antarctic islands and the Antarctic, in other words, they have evolved to live in many different climates and live successfully in water and on land. PIC too pride themselves on their adaptability, agility and providing innovative solutions.
The emperor penguin, the largest of the 18 species of penguins, are tougher than most species, withstanding long Antarctic winters and months without food. Again, PIC aligns itself with this remarkable bird in its strength in harsh economic conditions and volatile markets. The little or blue penguin, the main penguin on the West Coast, is the smallest of the penguin species, but resilient in its own small way.
PIC's charity partners are very relevant to their clients, focussing on older age and mental illness. But their charity committee also considers providing support to other charitable trusts and, late in 2022, the committee approved a generous donation to the West Coast Penguin Trust for penguin conservation. The approach to PIC was prompted by a personal connection in England, which just goes to show that you never know where any of us might bump into a new donor or sponsor, and we always need to be ready to invite and enable donors to help penguins!
The Trust is reliant on donations and grants and this year will be investing in improvements to the penguin protection fence north of Punakaiki and developing our foraging study to better understand the life of and threats to little penguins / kororā at sea off the Charleston coast. That is in addition to all the business as usual including monitoring breeding success and managing threats to both little penguins and Fiordland crested penguins / tawaki, and our education and awareness programmes. So the support from PIC is immensely valuable in maintaining and growing our penguin conservation efforts.
Not only does PIC recognise the wonderful qualities of penguins but they are also very strongly ethical and environmental in what they do, which the Trust values very highly.
PIC are investing in solar/renewable energy and decarbonising the economy, supporting social housing and universities, and has future generations in mind as they do business. PIC employees can also take two days paid leave each year to work on volunteer projects of their choosing.
The West Coast Penguin Trust is hugely grateful for the wonderful support from PIC and congratulates the company on their various community and environmental initiatives.
