Audley supports New Zealand Sealion Trust

The New Zealand Sea Lion (formerly known as Hooker’s Sea Lion) has only recently returned to breed on the mainland after an absence of 200 years.

The New Zealand Sea Lion Trust was formed to support research on, and public education about, this native treasure that has chosen to return to New Zealand’s mainland shores.

The charity has just completed a schools’ education programme in association with the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre at Otago University, and is hoping to have a sea lion education road show in 2009.

In the meantime research into the movement, foraging behaviour and diet of these unique, charismatic marine mammals continues. Much of this work is undertaken on a voluntary basis by two scientists on the board of trustees, Shaun McConkey and Simon Childerhouse, assisted by a team of enthusiastic undergraduate scientists and volunteers.

An overview of the Trust, its goals and current projects, can be found on the Sealion Trust website.