Whitianga-based Mercury Bay Optometrist’s Brett Howes had an unusual patient call in the holidays after a young, Little Blue penguin was found disorientated on Matarangi Beach during the day and taken to the local Kuaotunu Bird Rescue centre.
Thinking the penguin had something wrong with its eyesight, centre head Annemieke Kregting called in Howes to examine the penguin. Howes has given advice to the centre before and works with Project Kiwi, maintaining trap lines and delivering eggs to the hatchery and returning 1kg birds to the wild, but he’d never paid an official house call to the centre before, he said.
Accompanying Howes was Christchurch-based optometrist and low vision specialist John Veale, who just happened to be holidaying in the region. Howes examined the penguin, assisted by Kuaotunu Bird Rescue volunteer and retired GP Dr Sue Grieg, while Veale provided neuro-optometry advice. Both concluded the lack of visual stimulation response was likely due to concussion from a bump to the head, or a stroke, though that was unlikely given the age of the penguin.
In an interview about the penguin’s plight with the local paper, The Mercury Bay Informer, Howes said it was common in birds for systemic issues to impact the eyes. Extensive dilation is also normal for penguins to enable them to see in the water. The pupils constrict when they leave the water, so they can see on land, he said. “It was special to help a little bird and nice to contribute to the fantastic work Annemieke and the volunteers do at the sanctuary.”
Still concerned for the Little Blue, now nicknamed ‘Jim’, Kregting sent him to the NZ Bird Rescue Charitable Trust in Auckland after Howes’ diagnosis. But despite the work of the avian vets at the Auckland centre, Jim began to refuse food and died a few weeks later. “It was a very sad day, but I knew his future wasn't looking good. Keeping penguins in captivity is very difficult and often, like other seabirds, they start to suffer being away from their natural environment,” she said.
