All Aussie Adventures: WARRNAMBOOL

From MacArthur we headed South again to a town on the Southern coast of Victoria in Warrnambool. Warrnambool is a town/city of approximately 30,000 people and has an interesting history. Part of this history is the use of Maremmas guardian dogs to protect the middle island penguin colony.

Maremmas are Italian guardian dogs, used for centuries to protect local flocks of sheep from wolf predation. Here at Warnambool the have been used very successfully to protect the only colony of mainland penguins in Australia.

The Middle Island Maremma Project began in 2006 when there was a sharp decline in the colony size of Little Penguins on Middle Island due to fox predation.

A Deakin University study of the 1999-2000 breeding season found 292 occupied burrows with 502 penguins coming ashore during a one-hour period in January 2000. At that time tourism was found to have a negative impact and the study raised concerns over the threat posed to the colony by foxes and dogs.
By 2005 there were fewer than 10 penguins on the island.
A local chicken farmer, Swampy Marsh, suggested Maremma guardian dogs could be used to protect the penguins. Swampy had successfully used Maremmas to help protect his free range chickens.
In a world-first, Maremma dogs were trained and placed on Middle Island to protect the penguins from foxes during the breeding season. The project has been a huge success, with no evidence of fox attacks since the beginning of the Project and a steady increase in penguin colony size to an estimated 180 penguins in 2013.
Middle Island has been closed to the public since 2006 to protect penguin burrows from human trampling which can harm penguins, penguin chicks and eggs. The closure of the Island has contributed to the increase in penguin colony size. Over summer each year, people who want to visit Middle Island can book a place on the “Meet the Maremma Tours” and experience the project firsthand.
Our two Maremma guardian dogs, sisters Eudy and Tula, spend five days per week on Middle Island during the breeding season and on their days off they live at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, interacting with visitors and helping to educate people about environmental conservation. For more information on education programs, the Maremma guardian dogs and tourism activities over summer.

A great success!

Some of the protected penguins