A group of penguins has been released back into the wild after being rescued from the oil spill from a cargo ship in New Zealand.

The 49 blue penguins were released on a beach near Tauranga and quickly waddled and hopped into the surf.

The aquatic birds are the first batch of a group of 340 that were rescued following the oil spill.

Microchips have been implanted into each released bird and they will be monitored for the next 12 months.

The stricken tanker came aground on the Astrolabe reef

Wildlife response manager Kerri Morgan said: “This is a great milestone for us. We have been here right from the start, so we have still got a long way to go.

“But it is really, really nice to see that, for these birds, they are back where they belong – it is fantastic.”

The container ship Rena became grounded on a reef off the coast on October 5, and has spilt 350 tons of oil into the sea since then.

A salvage operation is still continuing to remove containers still aboard the stranded ship.

SKY