The last little penguin left at Oamaru’s rehab centre was released near Cape Wannbrow and made its way back out to sea after being released on Thursday morning.

A total of 36 penguins were brought to the rehabilitation centre over the season in what was described by Oamaru Penguins as a “busy” year for the team.

Birds came in for a host of reasons, including starvation, injuries, feather contamination and there were chicks which got lost in town.

“It’s a great feeling seeing this last penguin swim off into the sun on such a beautiful day,” the organisation wrote in a social media post.

It was a record-breaking season for the birds, with 994 chicks fledging between May 2025 and April this year at the town’s visitor colony and a separate non-visitor control site, both managed by Oamaru Penguins.