Wellington cycleway developers warned after deaths of little blue penguins

By RNZ

The developers of a Wellington cycleway have been reprimanded after several little blue penguins were killed.

The Department of Conservation (DoC) has issued a formal warning relating to one of the deaths during the construction of the Wellington-Petone cycleway. The bird was crushed when a rock was moved.

An investigation found the deaths - which happened over two months - were not malicious or intentional, but some kororā were killed because required site checks were not completed. Only one reached the threshold for offending under the Wildlife Act.

The investigation found several of the deaths could not have been foreseen or prevented, because the penguins were nesting below the waterline where nobody expected.

A kororā / little blue penguin. Photo / Julie Chandelier, RNZ

The alliance behind the project had proactively reported the deaths to DoC, and issued a “stop work” notice pending an internal investigation. It conceded all reasonable steps had not been taken.

DoC principal investigation officer Matt Davis said the alliance had adopted stricter measures to better protect little blue penguins after the investigation.

“DoC staff carried out a site visit and were extremely pleased to see the new measures in place,” he said.

“The alliance was fully cooperative with DoC’s investigation into the deaths and, although the deaths were all very disappointing, we note no further deaths have occurred since the implementation of the new measures.”