SLAUGHTER OF PENGUINS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXIV, Issue 17697, 24 October 1919, Page 2

SLAUGHTER OF PENGUINS.

ALLEGED CRL- :, TREATMENT.

SYDNEY STATEMENTS DENIED

Mr. E. J. Haynes, taxidermist at Christchurch Museum, has reported on recent statements made in Sydney regarding the alleged cruel treatment of Penguins at Macquarie Islands. It was stated that the birds1 were driven up to the top of the ligester and there knocked on the head, falling into the- digester, in 'many cases stunned, but not dead, and thus being boiled alive. Mr. Haynes said when he was visiting ihe Macquaries in 1912 he watched the process of boiling the birds. They came ashore on a flat, pebbly beach, and entered a natural cul de sac formed by a saddle. Usually two penguin hunters stood by, one on !each side of the cul de sac, holding belaying pins or waddies.* The penguins were knocked on the head, and their bodies were placed in heaps. The blows always were terrible ones, as penguins are tenacious of life, and the object was to kill them outright. Five experienced men averaged a total of about 8000 a day. The dead bodies were carried to the digesters, where thj oil was obtained.

Mr. Haynes states that it is utterly impossible to drive birds into the digester, even from a purely utilitarian point of view. It would he more troublesome, and would take up more time to drive them up a:i incline to the digester than to kill them in the, cul de sac. It is mainly the royal penguin that is taken for oil, buf the rock hop-per and tufted penguin (known to New Zealanders as the Victoria) are also taken. Mr. Haynes believes it is impossible to exterminate i~.e royal penguin, but the rookeries of the other two species might be seriously reduced. Mr. tiaynes strongly supports the proposal to declare jVlacquarie a national reserve after Mr. Hatch's lease expires, and to have all animal life there absolutely protected.