Less oil but wildlife centre still on alert | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

The intake of oiled birds into the Te Maunga wildlife centre has slowed dramatically but the workers are remaining vigilant in case the situation changes.

Oiled wildlife co-ordinator Kerri Morgan said although it was positive the level of work at the centre had been scaled back recently, it was capable of ramping back up if needed.

"During the peak of operations we had around 250 [birds] a day, so we went from an operation of zero to around 250 in about a week.

"It's very positive - we're getting fewer post-mortem birds coming through [so] we're in a holding pattern. [But] if the ship broke up right now, we have the capability to ramp up again."

Three new oiled penguins were brought in to the centre on Sunday but they had been "the first in a while", a wildlife centre spokesperson said.

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The newly built aviaries are the preferred environment for the penguins until there is no longer a threat of oil off the coast, said Massey University wildlife vet Danielle Sijbranda. There they were able to socialise and swim whenever they wanted.

"There's 40 in each aviary but we have the capacity to go up to 50 if we need to. They can do what they want to, it's much better, it's more natural for them," she said.

There are not many birds left yet to graduate from the heated tents out to the open aviaries, she said. Once they have been cleaned they need to redevelop their natural waterproofing, and until then they needed to be kept warm at night.

There are now 403 birds in the centre being cared for by about 47 wildlife staff plus an additional 25 Department of Conservation field staff, as well as administration personnel and construction crews.

There are still about 100 people on hand to look after the oil-affected marine birds, down from the 250 who were on-site in the early days of the spill.

There are 16 marquees, seven pools, 10 penguin enclosures and aviaries for 60 dotterel.

The birds get through about 160kg of anchovies a day.