The owners of a Port Chalmers restaurant are reviewing their CCTV footage to find out who threw a dead penguin in a rubbish bin behind their premises.

Futomaki manager Mercel Vuran said that she discovered the dead bird in their bins about 11am yesterday.

“What is wrong with people nowadays?”

“It’s not just by accident; someone must have put it there.”

Vuran notified the Department of Conservation (DoC), who identified the bird as a little penguin.

New Zealand Penguin Initiative penguin scientist Dr Hiltrun Ratz said the incident was peculiar.

“Clearly, someone found it and thought to remove it, but why they decided to put it in a dumpster, there’s no way of knowing.”

Ratz said the penguin looked like it had been moulting, and someone may have put it in the bin thinking they were saving it from predators.

Penguins are vulnerable while moulting because they cannot go to sea for two and a half weeks until they become waterproof.

She said it was important to report sightings of dead penguins.

“If we don’t know where and how penguins get themselves into trouble, we can’t protect them.”

DoC said it was following the incident up.

- Tim Scott, ODT