Little Penguins being abducted and turned into pets
By Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil
20 March 2011 Little Penguins are the smallest species of their kind, but that undeniable cuteness has been a detriment to their very existence lately. On Granite Island in Southern Australia, thieves have been abducting the Little Penguins from their protected reserves under cover of night, presumably to make them into house-pets. Over the last decade, the penguin population has dropped from over 1,500 to a less than 150 counted in the last bird census. Clearly, something has to be done to save the Little Penguins. Granite Island is connected to the Australian mainland by a road that has allowed countless animal enthusiasts to enjoy a peek at the wildlife — but official say that same road is being used all too frequently by bird-nappers to make heists of the island’s Little Penguin residents. Despite protective measures installed around their colonies, thieves have been sneaking through and grabbing the penguins, decimating their numbers. “People climb over the six-foot high concrete fence and steal the penguins,” Granite Island Penguin Centre coordinator Dorothy Longden told The Sunday Mail. “Two that were stolen, someone actually destroyed their burrows to find them and then took them. We care for them here, these are the sick and injured, they’ve all got names so we know when we come in in the morning if any have been taken.” Unfortunately, the security system has had little effect at slowing the crooks. “It doesn’t matter how many security cameras we put up, it doesn’t seem to help because the people wear hoods and we can’t identify them,” says Longden. She believes that most of the birds are being sold as pets. …
