An injured yellow-eyed penguin parades around the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital wearing a green slipper yesterday.
The Wildlife Hospital Trust, which runs the hospital, is hiring another vet nurse due to an increase in patients since it opened last month. The nurse will be the third paid employee at the facility.
The hospital is housing eight yellow-eyed penguins, one erect-crested penguin, a takahe, a kea and a wood pigeon.
Trust co-chairman Steve Walker said hiring a new staff member meant more than ever the facility would require donations from the public to keep it running.
Hospital co-founder Jordana Whyte said the slippers were made of a piece of a yoga mat covered in a colourful bandage.
Many of the penguins needed the footwear because their feet were very sensitive and prone to injury, she said.
