In 1997 there were 600 breeding pairs of Yellow-eyed Penguins/Hoiho on Mainland New Zealand. Now there are just 172.

If we don’t act quickly there’s a real chance that these amazing animals will disappear in our lifetime.

This year on September 11th I will be running the Dunedin marathon to raise money for the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust.

The Trust are a charity that work to help hoiho by safeguarding their habitat (buying land for protection such as Long Point/Irahuka), trapping mammalian predators, planting trees and shrubs to improve habitat, providing nesting opportunities, and advocating for penguin conservation. This is in addition to monitoring the penguins and research into impacts on the population.

The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust assists the penguins by alleviating some of the pressures we humans have imposed on them. Once free of these threats, yellow-eyed penguins are capable of doing the rest. This is a rewarding partnership, which succeeds if we do our bit.