After being contaminated by an oil spill off New Zealand
Forty-nine little blue penguins rescued and cleaned up after being contaminated by an oil spill off New Zealand nearly seven weeks ago were released into the sea on Tuesday.
Maritime New Zealand, which is supervising salvage of the 47,000-ton Rena, said it was the start of a staged release of wildlife over the next few weeks.
More than 2,000 seabirds died after about 360 tons of heavy fuel oil spilled from a cargo ship that grounded on a reef 22 kilometres off the east coast port of Tauranga, on October 5.
More than 300 penguins are still being held at a wildlife centre after the country’s worst marine environmental disaster.
Salvage workers managed to pump most of the 1,700 tons of oil from the Liberian-registered Rena. The ship remains on the reef, severely damaged and listing 21 degrees.
Veterinarian Brett Gartrell told the Bay of Plenty Times the penguins were made to swim for six hours in their pool on Monday to test their ability to survive in the wild again.
‘We’re simulating the fact the penguins have to spend the whole day out on the water,’ he said. ‘They were then checked to make sure their feathers were completely waterproof, a test failed by only six, whose release was delayed.’
Gartrell said only 20 of 360 contaminated penguins rescued had died, and the first release was an emotional moment.
‘I believe there were people with tears in their eyes,’ he said.
Maritime New Zealand said salvage workers battling winds gusting up to 74 kilometres an hour had unloaded 70 containers of goods from the deck of the Rena.
It carried 1,368 containers on board originally, and 88 are known to have fallen overboard in heavy weather since the grounding.
Source: M&C
