Happy Feet rated priceless publicity despite costs

$30,000 for Happy Feet as DOC makes cuts

SARAH HARVEY AND MICHAEL FIELD

At least $30,000 has been spent saving Happy Feet the penguin at a time when conservation budgets for safeguarding other wildlife are being slashed.

But the bird has provided priceless publicity for wildlife in general, says Forest and Bird.

Happy Feet, an emperor penguin from Antarctica, was found on a Kapiti Coast beach north of Wellington in June and, according to figures obtained through the Official Information Act, Wellington Zoo estimates it has cost in excess of $30,000 for numerous operations to remove sticks and sand from his stomach, as well as rehabilitating him for a return to the wild.

The Department of Conservation (DoC) has not released how much it spent on looking after the penguin while it was on the beach and then transported to Wellington.

The department is planning to return him to the sea in August from a boat off the Bluff coast.

Forest and Bird advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell said $30,0000 may seem like a lot of money when seen against the backdrop of DoC redundancies. The department announced in June it would be cutting 100 jobs across the organisation.

"The Department of Conservation has had its budget slashed by the government and it's laying off staff so having to spend significant sums of money looking after this one bird compared to other birds, and other things – you can ask those questions."

He said Wellington Zoo and DoC were "damned if they do and damned if they don't. They certainly would have been criticised if they hadn't helped."

Hackwell said while $30,000 was a lot to spend on the care of a wayward bird, the publicity around Happy Feet had heightened publicity around birds and wildlife in New Zealand in general.

"I wouldn't begrudge Happy Feet his $30,000 because it has created an opportunity to talk.

"It might make people think about the wildlife that's around us all the time rather than what turns up once a century."

Happy Feet is the first known emperor penguin to swim the more than 3000km to New Zealand from Antarctica in 44 years.

"It's a neat animal and it is pretty exciting that it turned up here and people were able to do something about it. People get really excited about a bird way out of place and naturally they are sympathetic and want to do something to help," Hackwell said.

For Wellington Zoo, any cost will likely be offset by the crowds the penguin has been pulling in. Visitor numbers have increased by about 50 per cent compared to the same time last year.

- © Fairfax NZ News