Forest and Bird South Otago branch chairman Roy Johnstone said the group intended to march down Clyde St from St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on August 17 to highlight the plight of the yellow-eyed penguin on the Otago and Catlins coasts.
Members would be dressed in yellow-eyed penguin costumes and would push suffering penguins on a hospital bed to Clutha Health First and back.
Mr Johnstone said the penguins were in crisis and if nothing was done to protect them, it was likely they would become extinct on the mainland.
"The population has declined rapidly in the last four years and last four breeding seasons."
There had also been two major "starvation events" in the Catlins. About 50% of the chick fledglings there had been underweight.
There was a food shortage offshore, Mr Johnstone said.
He believed tighter fishing regulations and a marine reserve were needed to help increase the penguins’ food supply. Forest and Bird wanted to galvanise the community to push harder for a marine reserve and take action to support the birds.
"We want to send a clear message ... that they’re dicing with death with the yellow-eyed penguins."
There were several small breeding colonies along the coast, but the main one was based at Long Point, where Forest and Bird carried out predator control and monitoring.
Statistics indicated penguin populations could be gone by 2060 if nothing was done to protect them.
Mr Johnstone said if the area started to lose its wildlife, it was likely tourists would stop visiting, as it was a drawcard for visitors.
He said Forest and Bird had been thinking of staging a protest march for a while and wanted to draw attention to the "crisis" the birds faced, as the Government had been "paying lip service" to the environment.
