The West Coast Community Trust manages its investments and apply income by way of grants for charitable, cultural, philanthropic, recreational and other purposes in Buller, Grey and Westland. The Trust has been fortunate to receive grants for its education and its awareness programmes.

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The Community Grants Fund was set up to support the work of community groups and volunteer organisations who are providing community and social projects and services within the Buller district. The West Coast Penguin Trust has been fortunate to receive a grant from this fund to support us to deliver our penguin conservation education programme to Buller schools.

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We know next to nothing about tawaki’s marine ecology, their foraging ranges, which prey species they consume and at which water depths they forage. Critical information is missing to assess how human activities might impact on tawaki, be it ongoing climate change, fisheries activities or pollution of the marine habitat with mining effluents or oil-leaks. This project will address the key aspects of tawaki’s marine ecology throughout the range from South Westland to Stewart Island. We will:

• examine their foraging strategies across the different marine environments they inhabit
• study the spatial distribution of their diving activities to determine whether there are specific hot spots at sea
• investigate which marine and terrestrial aspects affect the species’ population dynamics

We also collaborate with the West Coast Penguin Trust to further knowledge and conservation management for tawaki through our collaboration as The Tawaki Coalition.

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The Sargood Bequest is a charitable trust founded in 1939 by Sir Percy Sargood of the firm Sargood Son & Ewen.  Sargood Bequest actively supports community groups and individuals within New Zealand. The purpose of the fund is to make grants to projects and activities in the Children & Youth, Cultural, Sports & Outdoors, Educational and Environmental categories with a focus on Access, Participation and Inspiration.  The majority of grants made by Sargood Bequest are under $5000. The Trustees favour projects to which funds are specifically targeted.  From time to time the trust also makes larger grants or pledges over a number of years at the discretion of the trustees. The Trust has been fortunate to have been awarded grants principally for our Education work, but also for the Community Conservation Symposium.

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Lottery Environment and Heritage provides grants for plans, reports and one-off projects that will protect, conserve and promote New Zealand’s natural, cultural and physical heritage. The Trust has received two grants for two major projects, namely developing an education resource (2015) and presenting the Community Conservation Symposium (2018).

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In 100 years Taronga has evolved from a location of entertainment to a mature conservation and education hub.  Taronga has a clear vision to secure a shared future for wildlife and people. The West Coast Penguin Trust forged a relationship ship with Taronga Zoo via Wellington Zoo.  Taronga is the only place in the world to keep Fiordland crested penguin (tawaki) in human care, and is the home of Gari, found on a West Coast beach within a few weeks of fledging and with major bite wounds inflicted at sea, probably by a barracuda.  Gari was treated and cared for at Wellington Zoo, before being farewelled to Taronga and their purpose-built enclosure and two other tawaki. We're hugely grateful to Tarongo Zoo who have sponsored our tawaki predator research project.

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The Department of Conservation has been the main sponsor of the Trust since its inception and continues to support our work with grants, advice and encouragement. We're very fortunate to work with such a passionate group of people throughout the West Coast region.

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Wellington Zoo is New Zealand’s first Zoo and Wellington’s oldest conservation organisation, caring for animals since 1906.  The Zoo is a not for profit charitable trust, and has been that way since 2003.  The Trust runs the Zoo on behalf of Wellington City Council. They are proud to be the world’s first carboNZero certified zoo and they became the first zoo to win the Environmental Sustainability Award at the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). The zoo follows the WAZA commitments to excellence in animal welfare and conservation. They are also part of the Zoo and Aquarium Association - a regional organisation for zoos in the Australasian region.  ZAA manages the coordination of breeding programmes and sets the level of professional standards and practice for members.  They are proud to have been accredited under their Animal Welfare standards. The West Coast Penguin Trust is hugely proud to be a Conservation Partner, sharing an interest in improving the conservation management of Fiordland crested penguins.

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