Hi my name is Scott.  During a recent trip to Tassie, my partner Nadine and I, witnessed some putrid and disturbing human behaviour towards the nesting penguins at Tatlows beach in Stanley.

We believe, due to the absence of any authority figures or infrastructure to control the crowd, we need to raise money to help the volunteer groups in the area build and work to protect and nurture these amazing penguins so we, and future generations can experience the joy these amazing creatures bring.

 I’ve created this go fund me hoping to raise enough funds to create a self sustaining charity process to make real change to areas where fairy penguins nest to raise their young.

100% of all donations will go directly to this cause.

We witnessed:

• Baby penguins being poked with sticks
• People trying to pick them up to take photos.
• Adult penguins returning from a days fishing and being blocked to accessing their awaiting babies
• People using cameras with flashes and shining blinding torches which startle and frighten the already exhausted adults trying to reach their babies 
• People on  push bikes riding along the pathway
• People with their dogs on and off leashes 

We both attempted to get the crowd to adhere to the rules, and despite continuing until late in the evening, we felt like we had little to no impact.

There were no authority figures present to control the crowd, and although some signs were present, they were too small and not well placed, and did little to inform the large crowd of how to act around the penguins.

There was a general absolute lack of any care or empathy for the returning parents, and several adult penguins took refuge under our vehicle to avoid being ushered to campsites (that was clearly the intention of some attendees that evening).

After contacting wildlife organisations and Penguin rehab groups, we learned that this behaviour is all too common and there is also lack of help from government, councils or the many businesses that profit from the influx of tourist dollars the penguins provide.

Please dig deep and help us build a safe future for the penguins that generations of people can continue to enjoy.