Could The End Be Near For Hawaii’s Resort Penguins?…Local views are changing on what it means to provide an authentic Hawaii visitor experience. A recent failed vote to send more penguins to Maui reflects that.
For nearly 40 years, guests arriving at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa have been greeted by a group of penguins that, while perhaps charming in their feathery faux tuxedos, aren’t exactly associated with Hawaii.
Now, questions swirl around the future of the resort’s colony of African black-footed penguins and whether those flightless birds, an endangered species, will continue to waddle and swim around an enclosure in the Hyatt’s main atrium.
A request by the Hyatt before the state Board of Agriculture to import four more penguins failed to pass last week, even though the Maui resort says it needs the added birds so that they might continue to breed there and keep the colony’s numbers sufficient.
