The tawaki released at Hokitika. Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
A lucky female tawaki/Fiordland crested penguin has been returned to the wild off the West Coast this week after a scrape with danger, far from home.
The Department of Conservation said the female tawaki was found in Christchurch's Scarborough in August - skinny, with few feathers and damaged skin, following a suspected attack possibly by a shark or another large predator.
Biodiversity supervisor Craig Alexander said most of the country's tawaki colonies were in South Westland and Stewart Island - not Canterbury.
"The tawaki was a long way from home when we picked it up, they're not a regular visitor to Christchurch shores," Alexander said.
The penguin spent the next four and a half months fattening up at on a diet of close to 800 grams of fish a day at the Christchurch Penguin Rehabilitation.
DOC's fauna technical advisor Cassie Mealey and her team collected the tawaki from Hokitika airport on Tuesday.
Cassie Mealey with the penguin. Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
"She drew quite the crowd at the small airport with people very interested in her story," Mealey said.
The penguin bolted out the cage off Hokitika beach when she was released, she said.
'"She then became a bit shy, perhaps realising she was in an entirely unfamiliar place, however, after a bit of an explore, she found the water.
"With some encouragement she ran into the ocean, diving under waves and swimming nearby happily before disappearing out into the big blue."
Two other tawaki were released from the beach in mid-December after weeks of rehabilitation.
Mealey said the adult and juvenile tawaki were skinny, exhausted, missing their waterproof coating on the feathers, and one had lacerations to its flippers.
The penguin when it was at the rehabilitation centre in August 2023. Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
The youngest was sent to the South Island Wildlife Hospital for treatment to its flipper wounds, which were likely caused by barracuda bites.
Standing at about 60 centimetres tall, tawaki are endemic to Aotearoa and are one of the rarest penguins in New Zealand.
They have a conservation status of "At Risk - Declining" - and have an estimated population of about 2500 to 3000 breeding pairs.
Their main threats include human disturbances on the shoreline including from dogs, introduced predators, climate change, and fishing bycatch.