New Zealand baffled after protected little blue penguins stolen from nests

[Judi Lynn]

New Zealand
Two men wielding a crowbar raid wild nests in Napier, possibly to sell the animals into the illegal wildlife trade

Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin
@EleanorAingeRoy
Wed 30 Jan 2019 19.48 EST

Two of the world’s smallest and most vulnerable penguins have been stolen in a brazen overnight raid on their nests in New Zealand.

Little blue penguins – or kororā – are native to New Zealand and are listed by the Department of Conservation (DoC) as an at-risk, declining population. Little blues are the world’s smallest penguin, and are threatened by common predators such as dogs and cats, urban development on their coastal environment and being hit by cars, boats or caught in nets.

Last week two men wielding a crowbar orchestrated a late-night raid on a little blue penguin burrow at Perfume Point in Napier, on the east coast of the North Island.

The DoC believes the thieves used the crowbar to prise heavy rocks off the penguins burrow, and then hooked the instrument around the birds’ necks to pull them from their sanctuary.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/31/new-zealand-baffled-after-protected-little-blue-penguins-stolen-from-nests

[Zoonart]

1. Sometimes I really dislike humans.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. +100

[democratisphere]

3. No words to describe my rage at rotten stinking humans.

[madaboutharry]

4. I thought the same.

Where do people like this come from? It makes me sick to know that there are people who would steal a little animal like this.

[2naSalit]

5. WTF?