Australia investigates odd penguin killings

World's smallest penguin species
Little penguins, actually. Also known as fairy penguins, they are the world's smallest penguin species, standing around a foot tall.

They are often seen in southern Australia and New Zealand, but are rare in New South Wales; the 120 that live in Manly are the only breeding colony left on the state's mainland, and they are considered endangered by the state government.

Five years ago, Treichler noticed a small group of penguins shuffling each night from the ocean to their nests under the wooden ramp leading to the adjacent beach. She was smitten — and petrified. Who would ensure their safety?

Thus began her nightly vigils next to the birds' nests. She puts off what most would consider important tasks — such as hip replacement surgery — until the three months of the year that the penguins head out to sea.

Others soon joined her, and today, 30 volunteer Penguin Wardens rotate night shifts. Aside from dogs and foxes, 22-year-old warden Elissa Barr cited other dangers: Flash photography disorients the birds. Trash can get stuck around their necks. And drunks sometimes step — and, Barr noted dryly — urinate on them.

But the volunteers can't be everywhere, as evidenced by the recent killings.

Fresh fish in their stomachs
Treichler believes the birds were taken during their nightly march home. "In autopsies that were done, they had fresh fish in their tummies," she said from her perch on the Manly pier, the chilly nighttime breeze ruffling her white hair.

So the wardens stepped up their watches. On this night, seven stand guard over a nest of four. The birds are laying low, including the normally flamboyant Mr. Stickybeak. Treichler believes the silence from the private beach where the latest slaughter happened has alerted the Stickybeaks and their neighbors — Mr. and Mrs. Silverwing — to the danger.

"They are usually singing their love songs," she said. "But it's eerily quiet at the moment."

Suddenly, a man and his 6-year-old son approached with unsettling news: Just yesterday, they saw a dead penguin at a beach south of Sydney.

"Did he have his tummy opened?" Treichler asked.

"Yeah," the man replied. "And he was missing his head."

Treichler's face fell. A pained murmur rustled through the group.

"That's a fox," Treichler said.

She and another volunteer scurried off to check on the nests at the private beach. As she slipped away into the night, she conceded with a smile: "It's a bit illegal."

But the chief penguin warden had a job to do. Somewhere in the darkness, the killer still lurked.

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