The Star: October 11, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday October 11 2018 19
Warning over leopard seal
• By Matt Salmons
OPEN WIDE: The juvenile
leopard seal which came up
on Sumner Beach.
A MARINE biologist is warning
people to be wary around
leopard seals on Canterbury
beaches.
It comes after a leopard seal
came on to Sumner Beach last
week.
The seal was photographed
Sumner woman Hanna Zhionberg
who had been heading out
to paddleboard on Tuesday night.
Marine mammal biologist
Krista Hupman had been researching
leopard seal sightings
in New Zealand for about three
years.
She said in spite of most
people’s impressions, visiting
leopard seals were “not unusual
at all,” with up to 50 seals visiting
New Zealand each year.
Dr Hupman said it was difficult
to say why the creature
was here.
“It seems each leopard seal has
their own agenda. It’s hard to say
what each one is up to.”
The Department of Conservation
website recommended staying
at least 20m away from any
leopard seal and keeping dogs
on a leash.
Dr Hupman said the animals
could inflict serious injury, but
would not normally attack people
as they were usually on the
best to rest.
“They’re not this aggressive
animal that people have in
their minds,” Dr Hupman
said.
Ms Zhionberg said she had
not heard of a leopard seal visiting
the area in the two years she
had lived in Sumner.
“I was honestly, really excited.
Antarctica for me is at the
top of my bucket list. Getting
something from Antarctica to
come here is really awesome.”
•If you see a leopard
seal report it to 0800
LEOPARD. Dr Hupman or
her team will be able to
provide advice
• By Julia Evans
CHRISTCHURCHNZ staff are
having to re-apply for their jobs
as part of its ongoing restructure.
The tourism, events and development
organisation announced
it was reshuffling within months
of its creation.
It is the result of a merger
between the city council’s events
team, Christchurch and Canterbury
Tourism and Canterbury
Development Corporation.
“In September we started consultation
with all staff to ensure
we had the right roles in each
pillar to ensure we had the right
roles within each pillar,” general
manager corporate services Robyn
Andrews said.
The structure was finalised
at the start of the month after a
new senior leadership team was
set in place in July.
“We are now working with
existing staff to give them the
option to apply for roles within
the new structure. Once this is
complete we will know which
roles we need to advertise externally,”
she said.
Though she said it has not yet
seen any redundancies, there will
be changes to roles and some
roles replaced by others.
“Some staff may leave the
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Role restructuring taking
place at ChristchurchNZ
Joanna
Norris
Robyn
Andrews
organisation at this point, but we
don’t yet know how many.”
She said ChristchurchNZ is
looking at “redeployment options”
for staff.
“One staff member resigned
proper to the structure being
confirmed, while four others
have indicated they will not be
applying for roles and are serving
notice periods.”
Ms Andrews said the company
is still partway through the
restructure process to enable to
teams to work more efficiently.
Chief executive Joanna Norris
told The Star in August the new
senior leadership team, which
was announced in February, was
assessing if any further changes
to staffing were necessary.
“We are currently evaluating
all activity . . . once we have
completed this, we will assess
whether we have all the right roles
and resource in place,” she said.
Asthma and respiratory presentation
Thursday 18 October, 2pm
Anthony Wilding Retirement Village
We warmly invite you to attend a presentation
by Teresa Chalecki from CanBreathe.
Teresa will discuss ways to improve the quality of life
for people suffering from respiratory conditions.
Followed by afternoon tea.
For more information please
phone Claire on 338 7696
5 Corbett Crescent, Aidanfield
8869