Middle Island (Warrnambool)

It is a wildlife sanctuary that is home to breeding colonies of Australian little penguins (Eudyptula novaehollandiae) and short-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris).

As a result, the penguin colony declined to a low of ten breeding pairs by 2005.

The dogs, who work in pairs, spend five or six days a week on the island during the breeding season from October to March.

[1][2][3][4] In 2017, when high tides and bad weather prevented the dogs from being taken to the island, as many as 140 penguins were killed by foxes.

[5][6] Numbers have since rebounded, and the project inspired a similar effort that began in late 2020 to protect newly released eastern barred bandicoots at Werribee Open Range Zoo by having the dogs mind a flock of sheep.