Northern Beaches Schools Join Taronga to Help Penguins

03-06-2010

Photo: (March 19, 2009 – Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images AsiaPac)

Autumn is a busy time for Northern Beaches schools and a colony of Little Penguin residents which share the beaches.

During the colder months of the year the Little Penguins prepare for the arrival of their young, building nests in rocky shelters for a June hatching. It is exactly this time of year that Tarongas Education team enlists the help of school children across the Northern Beaches to raise awareness about this locally threatened species.

The central aim of the program is for students to develop community action campaigns to educate the local public about the importance and plight of the Little Penguins of Manly.

Taronga Wildlife Hospital usually cares for 30 – 40  Little Penguins each year that arrive affected by everything  from dog bites to horrific injuries caused by human rubbish.

The school program is based on peer-based learning where middle school students help primary students develop, design and create their projects which will be displayed at the Taronga Centre in late June.

Initially, primary students from six primary school and three high schools visit Taronga followed by an Expert Day back at school and practical exercises such as caring for the coastal bushland and beach audits. The students learn about Penguin breeding, Tarongas Little Penguin rehabilitation work and hear from guest speakers from National Parks and Wildlife Services and Manly Environment Centre.

Over 650 students are taking part and for the first time community partners have joined in to take the messages of action even further. Soon the public will see the students campaigns throughout Northern Beaches shops, cafes, community services and even empowered by local heroes such as the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

This is the fourth year that Tarongas Education team has partnered with the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC), Manly Environment Centre, the Northern Beaches Learning Alliance, Club Marine and Coastcare to run this innovative outreach program. Project Penguin was the first of three insitu community education programs designed by Tarongas Education team which won a prestigious Zoo and Aquarium Award this year and will be nominated for the State Landcare Awards in 2011 to go into the National Awards in 2012.

With breeding season about to commence there could not be a better time to inspire people to take responsibility for their local Little Penguin colonies.