Reply to my Phillip Island rant:

PINP Release (Park Ranger) Mon., August 19, 9:30am
Hi Irk, we understand your disappointment of not being able to use your camera but
hope you did enjoy the experience of the Penguin Parade.

The Park did not take lightly the decision not to allow cameras. After many
years of consideration the cameras were banned for the following reasons:
Flash photography is at the blue end of the light spectrum and disturbs
penguins. Whilst flash photos were always banned, the Park could not stop
them being taken. Many people could not turn their flash off. This taking of
flash photos also disturbed other customers who were obeying the ban.
The parade lights are soft and dispersed at the yellow end of the spectrum.
Our research has proven that these lights do not affect the penguins.
We banned all photos because some new digital and video cameras are very
like flash cameras in appearance.
We are now working on providing stock photography that people can down load
onto their cameras. This will allow them to take home some photography.
Since the new cameras regulation many people have commented on the improved
experience while watching penguins. Visitors are no longer crowded by other
customers trying to take pictures and the whole evening is now much more
peaceful for people and penguins.
The boardwalks were built to protect the penguins burrows, having visitors up off the ground stops them treading on burrows and caving them in and lets the penguins go around their habitat without interference of people on their tracks.
We always consider the penguins first. I hope you understand our position.


Marine Researcher
Tue., August 20, 2:59am

Dear Park Ranger.

I too am a very disappointed visitor to your commercial centre. In accepting you have a renowned separate research section, it is not that section which runs your souvenir shops; the only available source of video or still photography of the Little Penguins at quite excessive prices.

In various studies all results have shown that the Little Penguins are not in any way harmed by flash photography.

If you are going to attempt to perpetuate the myth that it does, you should back your statements with the names and references of studies supporting your views.

No such case studies supporting your claims exist, in contrare all evidence is clearly that no physical damage is done by the light spectrum of a flash.

To state that your trained rangers cannot tell the diffence between a digital video camera and a digital still camera is ridiculous at best. When I attended earlier this year, the rangers were stopping people, and placing cameras into a plastic bag. This was taking place in a well lit area by large glass doors.

The difference between a still and video digital camera or any other type of video camera is significant and you must believe we the public are idiots if you expect us to believe your trained and experienced rangers cannot tell the difference between the two.

It is time that the Australian and Victorian Governments took action to stop the false claims being made by your commercial department so that simply put you can force we the visiting public to buy commercial photography from your souvenir shop.

Three cheers to Irked for again raising a matter much in need of redress.


PINP Release (Park Ranger) Tue., August 20, 3:07pm
Dear Marine Researcher,

As you say, it is important to back up statements with supporting documentation. For this reason, we will be glad to receive your named references supporting your statement �Little Penguins are not in any way harmed� by flash photography.

If you read carefully our reference to the effect of flash photography on penguins, you will see that the word used is �disturbs penguins,� not physical damage as you claim. Our Research team are recognised among world leaders in Little Penguin research and we are very careful not to commit statements which are not backed up in scientific study. (They also do not use pseudonyms when writing text about their field of study.)

As you will know, when moving through the darkness or semi darkness, the pupils of your eyes are dilated and your retina is then particularly exposed to sudden light. This sensitivity to sudden light must have been noticed by you when someone turns the light on in the middle of the night � it occurs in all species with adjustable pupils.

There are often over two thousand people watching penguins come out of the water and cross the beach. The penguins have travelled sometimes many kilometres in gathering darkness. Consider the distressing effect of not just your bedroom light, but two thousand flashes going off in your face, considering the information above, and you will see how our regulation is created out of care for the penguins and not some other reason.

If the penguins are constantly distressed at this beach they may try to go elsewhere where they will NOT be protected from dogs, traffic, and housing as they are here.

The Penguin Parade, (including both the research centre and the commercial centre, incidentally) is self funded. It is YOUR ticket money and souvenir money that pays for fox control (foxes have killed up to 30 penguins in one night on several occasions in the past). It is your visit as a tourist that keeps this organisation important to Victorian tourism and this has meant the Government actually bought back houses from the nearby housing estate so we could give the land back to the penguins � and this has restored many breeding opportunities in the area where penguin numbers had been declining before.

Our statement about not being able to tell the difference between cameras refers to two thousand people in a crowd in semi-darkness at the beach, not of course at the well-lit doors of the building. As you may have noticed, a high proportion of our visitors do not speak English and by the time everyone wanted to talk about why we were selecting some cameras and not others, the parade would be over and everyone would still be queued up at the doors. You have to be realistic about how these things could be managed!

We are grateful on behalf of the penguins to all our visitors who consider the welfare of the penguins and come with a positive and understanding attitude to see them. Thanks to their visits, the Penguin colony is now thriving after many years in decline and as many of us have dedicated our whole career to them, we are not about to take them or their needs for granted.