Snap-happy tourists harass St Kilda penguins with mobile phones cameras mounted on selfie sticks

TOURISTS wielding selfie sticks are harassing St Kilda’s colony of little penguins, jamming mobile phones into their burrows to capture holiday snaps.

A tourist takes a photo of penguins using a selfie stick. Picture: Martin Reddy

TOURISTS wielding selfie sticks are harassing St Kilda’s colony of little penguins, jamming mobile phones into their burrows to capture holiday snaps.

When the Leader visited the colony at the St Kilda Pier breakwater, scores of visitors could be seen angling for the perfect shot of the cute and cuddly-looking birds.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Have you seen the little penguins treated inappropriately? Tell us below

Sticking their mobile phones between planks of wood, many appeared unconcerned about their impact on the nesting birds, with one young woman even spotted trying to crawl between the rocks and into a burrow.

A happy snapper, who identified himself as Sam from the Philippines, said he was not aware of the rule against flash photography and selfie sticks.

Tourists are posting selfie stick photos of penguins on Instagram.

Earthcare president Terry Lobert, whose volunteer penguin guides show tourists around the colony at dusk, said selfie sticks worsened a long-standing problem.

“I think this is the first year we’ve seen people using them,” Mr Lobert said.

“They can get their phones really close to the penguins now; we have to tell them not to stick it right in the penguin’s face, to keep their distance.

: It’s just unpleasant for the penguins, to have people invading their space.”

Mr Lobert warned tourists the little birds might retaliate, and could even “peck the phone and break it — they are quite strong.”

Volunteers use torches covered with red cellophane to illuminate penguins so visitors can take photos without the harsh light of a flash distressing the birds.

Signs are posted around the colony warning tourists not to use flash photography, but Mr Lobert said many tourists “either don’t read them or pretend they haven’t read them”.

Penguin researcher Zoe Hogg said poking selfie sticks into the penguin’s burrows risked injuring the animals or breaking their eggs.

A tourist takes a photo of penguins using a selfie stick. Picture: Martin Reddy

Black and white facts

St Kilda’s little penguins are moulting and stay in their burrows during daylight hours.

At other times of the year they swim up to 20km away to feed during the daytime, only returning to their burrows at dusk.

While penguins have no special fear of humans, they are easily startled and prefer to keep a distance of a few metres.

Bright white light stresses the birds, who are accustomed to green or blue light under the sea, so red filters are used to cover torches.

In peak season St Kilda’s little penguin colony — which is listed in tourist guidebooks such as Lonely Planet — receives hundreds of visitors each evening, and half a million each year.

More than 1000 penguins comprise the colony, which grew after the 600m breakwater was built for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

In 2011, Park Victoria was forced to act after reports of drunk backpackers picking up the little penguins and ensnaring them in fishing lines.