Little penguin released from rehab

The last little penguin left at Oamaru’s rehab centre was released near Cape Wannbrow and made its way back out to sea after being released on Thursday morning.

A total of 36 penguins were brought to the rehabilitation centre over the season in what was described by Oamaru Penguins as a “busy” year for the team.

Birds came in for a host of reasons, including starvation, injuries, feather contamination and there were chicks which got lost in town.

“It’s a great feeling seeing this last penguin swim off into the sun on such a beautiful day,” the organisation wrote in a social media post.

It was a record-breaking season for the birds, with 994 chicks fledging between May 2025 and April this year at the town’s visitor colony and a separate non-visitor control site, both managed by Oamaru Penguins.