Without this dangerous penguin hospital in New Zealand, the birds would be “functionally extinct”.

New Zealand cattle keep alive a penguin breed that belongs to the beautiful South Island with cuttings, flower, cowpea and ‘pinball’.

A dangerous creature, and one of the rarest penguins in the world, the yellow-eyed penguin or “hoi ho”, the “culprit of noise” in the city of Maori, has between 4,000 and 5,000 birds.

For years, two companies, The Wildlife Hospital and Penguin Place, located in Dunedin, near the extraordinary Otago Peninsula, have been treating and releasing birds.

“When I see the difference we make, especially for the hoho, this is a breed that excites me, and working with these birds and bringing them back into the wild is really the best part of my job,” said Dr. Lisa Arkilla, a veterinarian at the Wildlife Hospital.

4,000 to 5,000 is not so bad, but when you consider that there are only 265 known breeding pairs, the re-release of 95% of the injured hoyhos coming to the hospital underscores the extraordinary contribution of both teams to the Kiwis’ defense.

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“If it weren’t for Penguin Place, I could almost guarantee the population would be extinct,” said Jason Van Jonden, the BBC’s Penguin Place security manager.

Before the wildlife hospital opened in January 2018, it was to be sent to the North Island for treatment of injured penguins discovered by Penguin Place, which has been in operation since the 1990s. The immediate proximity to Hoho treatable helped people dramatically.

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However, as the world’s first full-fledged tourism finance security reserve, Penguin Place has been severely affected by the COVID-19 measures imposed by the government, and now only has enough capital to survive the next few months. With the return of hot weather, tourists will have to return to Penguin Place at the same time, or be forced to close its doors and leave the penguins to their devices.

Truth be told, this is not a bad trip. The rugged beaches of the Otago Peninsula, the highlands and the shelters are home to a wide variety of natural landscapes and animals, most of which are protected by tourism.

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While waiting for tourists to return to Coast Guard tours, Penguin Place is back to donations so you can contribute to their website while planning a visit.

(Meet some of these Kiwi Penguins in the video below).

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