
A taxidermy sea lion is carried down Dunedin’s Princes St yesterday by (from left) Department of Conservation worker Ben Fielding, New Zealand Sea Lion Trust trustee Giverny Forbes (obscured), Doc senior ranger Jim Fyfe and worker Kurien Yohannan. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY
A taxidermy female sea lion (pakake) made the unusual migration along Princes St yesterday morning, carried from the Department of Conservation offices to the Dunedin Community Gallery.
The sea lion and a taxidermy pup will be on display there as part of the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust's "30 Years of Pakake" exhibition, which opened yesterday.
New Zealand Sea Lion Trust trustee Giverny Forbes said the exhibition was a celebration of three decades since sea lions began breeding in Dunedin.
Some time around New Year's Day 1994, sea lion matriarch "Mum" had a pup on a Dunedin beach _ the first sea lion in more than 100 years to give birth on the mainland.
Before then, New Zealand sea lions had been hunted to extinction on the mainland and bred only in the subantarctic.

Giverny Forbes
"Not only in Dunedin, but also further south ... the Catlins, Stewart Island and some subantarctic stories," she said.
The exhibition also included activities, sea lion pelts and family tree displaying Mum's lineage.
Ms Forbes said as the sea lion population grew, it was vital people understood how to interact with them.
"We are so lucky to have them," she said.
"It's completely normal for them to be there.
"The only thing that's abnormal is the fact that we've put roads there, that we've got dogs there, that we've got people trying to pat them.
"The more we can get people familiar with sea lions and how to share space with them, the easier it's going to be to share space with them, especially as the population increases.
"30 Years of Pakake" is open at the Dunedin Community Gallery, from 10am-4pm, until Monday.