Ok it seems I need to better explain. I didn't hop a fence or go anywhere that was explicitly marked no trespassing. I literally turned left on a path that everyone else was going right. I love animals and I'm well aware of the dangers that interactions with humans can be for them. I was careful to keep a distance, while at the same time I was able to better view them in the water and on the rocks. While the other opportunities for seeing the penguins were only if you were walking on the wood walkway and happen to see the penguins when they were inches from the fence. I was never informed by any officials there of the risk of spreading an illness to the little guys, had I known that I would've been surprised to find the area open for tourists at all. Furthermore, where I went I was in plain sight of anyone, I wasn't hiding.
I don't see any problem. There is certainly a drop in penguin numbers, but no evidence that it's due to human visitors.
Boulders Beach is a great place to visit. And you don't even need to go pay to see the penguins. If you walk south of the pay-area, you will often see penguins along the shore, living just fine without all the "conservation measures" found in the pay-area, such as plastic nesting places and tourist management.
I'm glad somebody spoke up.
Ok it seems I need to better explain. I didn't hop a fence or go anywhere that was explicitly marked no trespassing. I literally turned left on a path that everyone else was going right. I love animals and I'm well aware of the dangers that interactions with humans can be for them. I was careful to keep a distance, while at the same time I was able to better view them in the water and on the rocks. While the other opportunities for seeing the penguins were only if you were walking on the wood walkway and happen to see the penguins when they were inches from the fence. I was never informed by any officials there of the risk of spreading an illness to the little guys, had I known that I would've been surprised to find the area open for tourists at all. Furthermore, where I went I was in plain sight of anyone, I wasn't hiding.
I don't see any problem. There is certainly a drop in penguin numbers, but no evidence that it's due to human visitors.
Boulders Beach is a great place to visit. And you don't even need to go pay to see the penguins. If you walk south of the pay-area, you will often see penguins along the shore, living just fine without all the "conservation measures" found in the pay-area, such as plastic nesting places and tourist management.