The juvenile penguin Takaraha was one of 23 first-year penguins fitted with satellite tags by University of Otago researchers, which fledged from south of Owaka on February 19.
Takaraha had travelled almost 1000 kilometres to the Marlborough Region and was found at Cape Campbell, near Blenheim, by the Department of Conservation (Doc).
The Waiau Doc Office was contacted by Zoology PhD candidate Mel Young who was concerned after seeing Takaraha had not moved after several days.
“The penguin had made some short trips to the east of Cape Campbell over the past 10 days, but there had been very little movement in the past five days,” Ms Young said.
Doc located the young penguin who was thin and had sustained a "severe" injury to its left flipper. which was believed to have been inflicted by a predator.
Picton Veterinary Clinic veterinarian Dr Christine Mackenzie ran tests and after a consultation with Dunedin Wildlife Hospital specialist penguin vet Dr Lisa Argilla it was decided that Takaraha should be euthanised.
There was severe irreparable damage to the [elbow] joint and a functional flipper was needed to swim, something it could not do with the injury it had, Dr Argilla said.
The body would be submitted to Wildbase for a post-mortem.
“This is an unfortunate end to an incredible journey, but was not completely unexpected, as more than 80% of yellow-eyed penguin fledglings do not survive the juvenile year. The wound has been inflicted by a predator, and we will know more once a post mortem has been completed,” Ms Young said.
Of the remaining juvenile penguins in the study, 16 were still transmitting their locations, with three devices now offline and three failing due to a technical fault.