Keeping tabs on wandering pakake

Pakake (New Zealand sea lions) are returning to the Otago Peninsula, as the summer breeding season comes to Dunedin’s coast.

The first pup was born at Aramoana on December 18, and we are expecting more than 30 pups this season.

We tag the pups to ensure an accurate count, and to track the family tree of the celebrated matriarch, Mum.

With most pups now approaching a month old, mothers will soon start to move them out of hiding and towards the Peninsula inlets.

Two female sea lions (kake), Pebble, 9, and Mika, 8, caused us the most work this season. They are fourth-generation Dunedin locals.

Their grandmother, Teyah, established breeding at Boulder Beach in 2005. This hidden and secure habitat contributed to the success of this family line.

For the kake, an important driver for their behaviour is to evade the large male sea lions (whakahao), who are focused on trying to mate with them.

Last year, you may have seen Pebble and Mika with their pups on John Wilson Ocean Dr. Not this season. It is likely the whakahao were patrolling too intensely.

These two cousins are young mothers, still trying to find how to keep safe while ashore for an extended time while getting pups "sea worthy".

Both have tried something different from last season. It is interesting to compare their choices.

Mika went inland in South Dunedin, and managed to evade the boys.

On Boxing Day, social media was reporting Mika’s every move along Victoria Rd, and the Department of Conservation (Doc) could not leave a pregnant kake so exposed to public scrutiny.

Mika was moved back along to the parklands of St Kilda Beach, hoping she would find her way to seclusion. But no, overnight she took a turn back inland and covered three blocks of suburbia before pupping on a front yard.

Luckily the homeowners were absent, and the neighbourhood was quiet. Mika had eight restful days bonding with her pup, being quietly watched over by the fascinated neighbours. As there was no vegetation, we made them shelter.

Pebble went further south, and ended up beside Taieri Mouth Rd at Kuri Bush.

Doc were called on December 30 to shift Pebble and her new pup from the road verge and a fence was erected to discourage further retreat inland. We hoped road signage might slow traffic.

We returned on January 1 when males were making their way around the fence to dominate the female.

Another 20m of fencing solved the road incursions, but at 300kg, these whakahao could easily have pushed through the fence and on to the road. Most traffic failed to slow for the 30kmh signage, making us nervous.

On January 12, part of the nearby layby was closed to make more room for the sea lions to move into, free of cars, campers and, hopefully, dogs. The pup was hiding behind flax bushes and under grass.

After Mika’s first quiet week, she took her first few foraging trips — crossing Marlow St and then Victoria Rd.

Roads were only going to get busier, and eventually the pup would be following Mika through the streets, parked cars, and backyards. We opted to trial "fast tracking" the pup back to Hancock Park.

While Mika was out foraging, we moved the pup and his shelter to a pinch point that Mika would pass on her way back.

We waited till midnight to ensure she reunited with her pup. Mika was confused, and possibly annoyed that the pup had not followed her instruction to stay put, but she accepted the new situation.

We were thrilled that the move was a success and we had Mika off the roads.

Managing Mika and her pup in the park, where many locals came to walk their dogs, presented new challenges. Signage was needed to alert dog owners to take extra care.

Any publicity, including tell-tale groups congregating to view Mika feeding her young pup by the fence alongside Victoria Rd, could draw crowds with potential to disturb. The message about giving sea lions space is easily forgotten when people are safe behind a fence.

Mika knows when she is being watched.

Pebble tried to float her pup first. It was an early swim for a small female pup at 3 weeks old.

Male sea lion activity at her accessible beach site, and human activity in the adjacent lay-by area, made things too hectic.

Pebble called her pup to follow her into the surf off a rocky platform with loud mooing.

Her 4-year-old son, Hawk, turned up to demand attention, and things looked a bit touch-and-go.

Finally, after leaving her pup to take Hawk off and lose him somewhere, Pebble returned and found a hidden sandy cove to rest up with her pup for a few days before taking the pup to sea again.

They are now somewhere along the beaches of Brighton and Ocean View.

Mika’s walk in the park led her to Marlow playground where she is educating her pup about people and roads, including a particularly proud moment when she led her pup through the rainbow arch. He is yet to be taken for his first swim.

I am sure dealing with pups born in suburbia will get easier with greater public awareness of how special and rare pakake are.

Roads, vehicles, dogs exploring unsupervised off-lead, and human harassment, are common suburban threats that kake face in their efforts to get a break from the whakahao.

Please remember to treat wildlife with respect and give them space to get on with their lives. Be aware that sea lion pups will be moved along our beaches over the next month.