A man is alleged to have taken a penguin and eggs from Low Head

Cherie Phillips and Stacey Pendrey were called as witnesses in the trial of Mohamed Ali Taha, who is charged with two counts of taking protected wildlife without a permit and one count of interfering with a nest, breeding place or habitation on reserved land.

Mr Taha, a Prospect man, pleaded not guilty when he appeared in the Launceston Magistrates Court on Monday.

He allegedly took a penguin and some eggs on 26 July 2020 from the Low Head historic site, which houses the Low Head lighthouse and the Low Head Penguin Tours.

On the day, the sisters visited the lighthouse and attended a penguin tour with their mother and children.

When they arrived, Ms Pendrey said that men in a car parked next to them were behaving suspiciously.

When the sisters returned to their car, they saw an individual with a cardboard box and heard "screeching" and "squawking" bird-like sounds.

They understood that noise to indicate a penguin and one of them said, "I think they've got a penguin in there."

Ms Pendrey told the court that she shouted at the man with words to the effect of "Oi, you can't take animals."

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She said that when the man dropped the cardboard box, a small penguin fell out and ran under her car.

Ms Phillips said the men shut the boot of their car, got inside and turned up the volume of their stereo, which she believed was an attempt to drown out the penguin sounds.

The sisters said that an older man in the area had looked inside the car boot and had seen a penguin and eggs in a cardboard box.

The elderly man then told them that "there are eggs there," Ms Pendrey said.

Michael Spaulding from the Parks and Wildlife Service was also called to give evidence.

Mr Spaulding told the court that on the day of the event, he was in Launceston and received a call concerning penguins at Low Head.

Mr Spaulding said he organised for two eggs retrieved by police to be given to Shirley Lincoln, one of the owners of the Low Head penguin tour.

Mr Spaulding asked Ms Lincoln to incubate the eggs as he thought they might still be viable.

He also said that he had received a brown paper bag with feathers from the George Town police, which was taken from the defendant.

Ms Lincoln told the court that after incubating the eggs, she later received a call from Mr Spaulding telling her to turn off the incubator.

Ms Lincoln said that it was her understanding that once eggs leave the nest, "they were no good anyway."

Mr Taha did not respond to an invitation from Magistrate Simon Brown to cross-examine or challenge statements made by the witnesses.

The matter was adjourned to September this year as more witnesses were unable to attend.

Mr Taha was also in court for alleged breaches of bail.

Low Head is home to a colony of little penguins, also known as fairy penguins.

They are protected under the Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulations 2021, which states that a person may not take protected wildlife or a product from protected wildlife unless they are authorised by a permit or licence.