Kaikōura trust challenges DOC's decision to exclude little penguins from bird flu vaccination

A small conservation trust in Kaikōura is pushing back against the Department of Conservation's decision to leave little penguins out of New Zealand's bird flu vaccination program. The Kaikōura Wildlife Centre Trust has asked for ministerial review of the choice, arguing that the nation's approach to protecting endangered birds from H5 avian influenza is leaving one of its most vulnerable populations exposed to catastrophic loss.

The trigger for the dispute is concrete: a little penguin on Phillip Island in Australia died from the virus, a sign that the disease poses a real threat to these small seabirds. The Department of Conservation's vaccination strategy, led by Suliana Teasdale, focuses resources on up to 30 bird species deemed at highest risk of extinction should the virus take hold. The logic is straightforward—target the birds with the smallest populations and the least capacity to recover from a major die-off. Little penguins, known locally as kororā, did not make that list.

Teasdale explained the reasoning plainly: the vaccination program concentrates on species with small populations that face genuine extinction risk if H5 bird flu causes significant mortality. Kororā, she said, do not meet those criteria. The department has built flexibility into its approach, she added, and will adjust its strategy if the disease threat to little penguins changes.

But Sabrina Luecht, manager of the Kaikōura Wildlife Centre Trust, sees the decision as dangerously narrow. She argues that little penguins face the real possibility of mass, localized extinctions—and that Kaikōura's population is a case study in why. The trust manages a remnant group of just 50 birds, already struggling against starvation and other pressures. An outbreak of bird flu, Luecht contends, would be catastrophic. "If we do not act in terms of vaccinations we will lose these birds within a season or two," she said. "It will be total extinction because of the starvation impacts that already exist."

Luecht is pointing to what she sees as a critical gap in DOC's analysis. The Kaikōura kororā are not a typical little penguin population. They are on the edge of regional extinction, already weakened by food scarcity and other threats. A disease outbreak would hit them at their most fragile moment, when they have no margin for loss. The trust argues that DOC failed to account for this exceptional vulnerability when deciding which species to vaccinate.

The trust is also invoking a precedent that undercuts DOC's position. Across the Tasman, Australia is preparing to vaccinate thousands of little penguins in Victoria as bird flu spreads. If vaccination is feasible at that scale in Australia, Luecht argues, it is certainly feasible for a targeted program protecting the Kaikōura population. She is calling on DOC to stop treating this as a settled question and to act on what she frames as an urgent, time-sensitive crisis.

Teasdale responded that the department has already secured approval for a second phase of its vaccination plan, which will extend protection to up to 25 additional priority species. The department is currently deciding which species will be included in that expansion, she said, and is consulting with Māori and other stakeholders as it assesses the evolving risk from H5 bird flu in New Zealand. The implication is that little penguins could still be considered—but only if the threat assessment changes or if the trust's case proves persuasive enough to shift priorities.