It would seem that one of the last colonies of little penguins that inhabitate Australia’s coastline is under constant threat from foxes. Middle Island’s colony, off the coastal town of Warrnambool in Victoria was literally wiped out by foxes in the early 2000s. A single attack resulted in 360 birds being killed – the newspapers described it as a “massacre”.

The threat has been present for some time now, and a local chicken farmer suggested obtaining a pair of maremmas to help preserve the penguin population. Maremmas are usually used as sheep dogs, but they were sent to Middle Island in 2006 anyway – to stunning results. Not a single penguin was lost to foxes after the dogs arrived, leading to the penguin colony, which once counted a lousy four individuals, to sprout and expand to a healthy number of 150 birds.

Eudy and Tula, the dogs guarding the penguins, are now more than eight years old and their retirement seems to be creeping up. That’s why a crowd-funding campaign has been launched to raise $25,000 to buy and train two pups that would replace Eudy and Tula.