Colony staff released the first bird from the remote Bounty and Antipodes Islands on Wednesday.
"It was weird" when they got a call about another underweight moulting bird found on a popular stretch of beach south of Oamaru, colony research scientist Dr Philippa Agnew said.
"We were surprised to have another call on the same day — and it was definitely not the same bird, because it was in the same condition as the first one was when we picked that one up, halfway through the moult."
Oamaru Department of Conservation (Doc) rangers earlier found another erect-crested penguin nearby, but it was in good condition and was taken to a private beach to finish moulting. The Oamaru penguin rehabilitation centre opened in 2016 and took in roughly 10 birds a year, Dr Agnew said. While it did treat some little blue penguins, most were "random" species. The first bird was taken in mid-February and once it was nearing the end of its moult was fed salmon smolt. Birds would then swim in the rehabilitation centre’s pool to make sure their new feathers were waterproof.
Doc’s ecology technical adviser Bruce McKinlay said new and developing feathers were very vulnerable to damage while being formed and repeated handling during the "very stressful" moult was dangerous to the birds.
"Imagine being made to sit in a hot dry place with no food and enduring a million pin pricks being pushed out of your body through your skin to create new feathers.
"People should not underestimate the amount of stress these birds are under and the risk that happens when these birds are disturbed. In this situation dogs running on beaches are death to any penguins present."
In January, a similar Snares crested penguin was attacked by a dog on a Kakanui Beach and died.
