It's feared the settlement's small but thriving little blue penguin colony, near Dunedin, has been completely wiped out in an apparent dog attack.
Kat Solin was walking towards the cave with her daughter today when she was faced with a grizzly sight.
Eight little blue penguins - three breeding pairs and two juveniles - had been mauled to death by what is suspected to be roaming dog.
Ms Solin said luckily, she was able to ‘‘spirit her away’’ before her daughter realised what was happening.
‘‘Somebody's dog has got into them, dug out all of the nest holes... we had to bury six adult penguins and two young ones.’’
Ms Solin reported the incident to the Department of Conservation (Doc).
Not only was it a very graphic scene, it was also ‘‘extremely disappointing,’’ as from what the local community knew that was the entire penguin colony.
Ms Solin said it was possible some birds could be hiding up in rocks above the cave, but that was the best-case scenario. If any did survive by hiding, 90% of the population would still have died in one night.
She said it was irresponsible of dog owners not to have their pets secure on their property - especially when surrounded by vulnerable wildlife such as little blue penguins.
‘‘We live in such a beautiful part of the country and we are so lucky to have the wildlife that lives here... If people can't lock up their dogs, they shouldn't have dogs. That's the end of the story.’’
It was not the first time roaming dogs had killed or injured animals in the area, Ms Solin said.
‘‘There's been at least two people that I know of that have had stock either injured or killed, and I have seen the dogs here on the beach the night before.
‘‘We know who they belong to and the local cop is aware, but it's a matter of being able to actually catch them when they're out."
The death of the penguins meant Long Beach has lost an incredible feature, she said.
‘‘We go down there all the time to just check how they're going and see where they're up to. It's great for kids down there, it was just incredible.’’
Ms Solin and a few other community members buried the penguins today.
Doc acting operations manager for Coastal Otago Christ Hankin said they received a report about the dead birds at 12.45pm today.
The report said they had allegedly been killed by a dog, and by the time staff went to Long Beach the penguins had been buried.
‘‘Doc is investigating the circumstances of the penguin deaths and we are appealing for information from the public who may have seen the incident or been involved in burying or removing the penguins.’’
