02 Jun 10 @ 05:18pm by john Morcombe
Professional dog trainer Steve Austin, pictured with Katie and Gus, sniffing out foxes at North Head before the penguin breeding
TWO spaniels have been unleashed to sniff out any foxes at North Head ahead of the coming little penguin breeding season.
The effort follows the killing of 10 little penguins at North Head, Collins Beach and Manly Point last year some by dogs and some by foxes.
Monitoring shows that last season the colony had its best breeding season to date, with 118 chicks fledged on 96 active nests.
The colony had a breeding success rate of 78per cent higher than reported from others in Australia, according to the Environment Department.
Environment Minister Frank Sartor said it was lucky the colony of little penguins suffered no long-term impact from the 10 deaths. “Their success may be because the attacks happened so early in the season, giving the penguins that lost a mate the time to find another,’’ he said.
After last year’s deaths, the National Parks and Wildlife Service installed CCTV cameras at North Head, employed professional shooters and launched a fox-baiting program.
The NPWS believes the fox baiting worked but want to be sure no new foxes have taken up residence at North Head, so yesterday Katie and Gus were put to work sniffing out any unwanted recent arrivals.
Manly Daily
