The hoiho (meaning ‘noise shouter’) is one of the world’s rarest penguins and may be the most ancient of all living penguin species.
Found only in Aotearoa, this distinctive seabird with its yellow eyes and band of yellow feathers once thrived from Canterbury Bight to the Catlins, Rakiura Stewart Island, and the sub-Antarctic islands.
Since 2009, mainland populations have crashed by 80%.
Today, just 143 breeding pairs remain on our coasts.
Hoiho face a brutal combination of threats.
At Sea:
On Land:
We’re working towards coastlines where hoiho breed safely, find abundant food at sea, and raise their young without constant human intervention. This means:
Every donation moves us closer to stabilising hoiho populations.
At the current rate of decline, hoiho could disappear from our mainland within a decade. Your support funds the rangers, veterinarians, and field teams who stand between the hoiho and extinction.
$50,000 – Rehabilitation facility for critical moulting period on Rakiura Stewart Island
$25,000 – Rescue and transportation of injured and sick hoiho during breeding season
$10,000 – Monitoring equipment for 15 nests
$5,000 – Fish for supplementary feeding underweight hoiho during breeding season
$2,500 – Predator control across 100 hectares of prime nesting habitat
$500 – Installs a nest box in penguin habitat
$200 – One day of ranger monitoring during breeding season
