The unnamed, nearly 3-month-old New Zealand sea lion pup was killed at Hoopers Inlet not far from temporary fencing installed by Doc and the Dunedin City Council this month to protect nursery areas for the threatened species.
Doc biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe said the driver would not face consequences, but the death was "gutting" nonetheless.
"It reinforces just how careful people have to be," Mr Fyfe said.
"It is a real problem."
Otago Peninsula’s two large coastal inlets — Papanui and Hoopers Inlets — are at present being used as nurseries for the record 20 sea lion pups tagged in Dunedin this year.
Tagged at a "robust" 26kg this month, the female pup killed last week was the offspring of a well-known 16-year-old female, named Gem.
This had been her 11th pup — but it would have only been her third surviving female.
Gem lost two female pups in tragic circumstances around a decade ago when she was pupping at Tomahawk Beach, Mr Fyfe said.
And seeing Gem with a healthy female pup earlier this month had been heartening, Mr Fyfe said.
A surfer hit the pup before sunrise, about 7am, on Monday morning last week. Its death was reported the following day.
Doc volunteers had searched the area last week but were
not able find the pup’s body until Friday night.
However, Gem’s behaviour had been a clear sign it was her pup that had been killed long before the pup’s body was located.
"When they’ve lost a pup [mother sea lions] do search for them for quite some period of time, mooing and calling and trying to locate where the pup is," Mr Fyfe said.
New Zealand Sea Lion Trust chairwoman Jordana Whyte said losing a precious female was a blow for the small population of animals in Dunedin.
It was also a blow for the conservationists who were trying to protect them.
"It’s one of the things that we’ve been really worried about, and unfortunately it has happened," Miss Whyte said.
She said she also felt for the driver in the accidental death; she understood he swerved to avoid a group of three pups on the road and avoided two of them, before hitting the third.
"It’s a blow, it’s sad," Miss Whyte said.
"It’s sad for Gem who will be searching and searching for that pup still."
