Calls for government to help KI penguin centre ahead of bird flu "fall on deaf ears”
EXCLUSIVE
By DANIEL CLARKE
21/08/26
One of the state’s most popular and important penguin tour centres has been ignored by State Government agencies for almost a month as it desperately tried to obtain help ahead of the arrival of bird flu.
Despite weeks of requesting advice and equipment from various government departments supposedly charged with assisting bird flu preparedness, the Penneshaw Penguin Centre's calls for support have "fallen on deaf ears".
The shock disclosure came on the same day that South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas revealed the first suspected case of bird flu in a little penguin, which was found at D’Estrees Bay on Kangaroo Island’s south coast.
The find has the island’s wildlife carers and tourism operators on high alert, with fears the fragile population will be all but wiped out.
The Kangaroo Island Landscape Board’s latest little penguin survey recorded an estimated 704 breeding adults across eight key colonies across the island, with Penneshaw recording 206.
Penneshaw Penguin Centre owner Renee Daniell said she has been left “incredibly frustrated” about the lack of interest from all authorities in assisting community members who monitor and protect such an important and iconic species.
“Every government agency we have reached out to is unable to help – they just point us to PIRSA which is still yet to get back to us after weeks of trying and waiting,” Daniell said.
“We have asked for assistance with footbaths, advice on hygiene and preparedness, and anything that may be proactive in protecting the penguins - yet it seems to fall on deaf ears with no reply.
“(Environment Minister) Emily Bourke’s office rang me today to give me the heads up about the dead penguin on Kangaroo Island. When I told them I’ve had no help from the government they said they would get in contact with PIRSA again – yet still no replies.”
Kangaroo Island Wildlife Network President Katie Venable said she expected the government to “support anyone working in the conservation space with vulnerable species, especially in accessible areas to the public, with mitigation strategies for the spread of disease”.
“PIRSA and DEW need consistency in their procedural framework, and government should be financially supporting small tourism operators to use best practice in minimising the spread of bird flu."
Daniell also questioned why penguins in the eastern states were seemingly being treated with greater importance than those in South Australia.
“They are now vaccinating penguins in Victoria and NSW so why not look at the opportunities of doing that here in Penneshaw where our colony is already fox free, the feral cats are mostly eradicated and we have daily observations over what is happening in one of the only consistently monitored colonies in South Australia," she said.
“Our population is currently going through breeding season, which would be an ideal time to do it as adults are highly likely to come back each night, making the second dose easier to obtain.”
Mr Malinauskas told SA parliament yesterday that the government is now considering a potential vaccination program "under certain circumstances for certain species", including penguins.
"We will not be vaccinating animals until the appropriate authorities have deemed it is safe to do so, and the risk of bird flu is there," Mr Malinauskas said.
"The vaccine that we're talking about: it requires the vaccine to be administered twice, which of course with native birds that are flying all over the state … is almost impossible."
Fears are growing across the state after authorities conducting aerial surveillance on Wednesday detected three mass bird mortality events involving more than 1,000 crested terns, which are "presumed" to have died from H5N1 bird flu.
Mr Malinauskas said the majority of those deaths had occurred on the two small islands off KI's east coast known as North Page and South Page, as well as the Troubridge Island off Yorke Peninsula.
The Pages Islands are a known breeding site for a colony of endangered Australian sea lions and also visited by long-nosed fur seals. The Premier said that no mass mortality event of mammals had yet been detected or reported.
As of yesterday, South Australia had recorded 177 confirmed events of H5 bird flu.