Snipers guard Aussie penguins

SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA has posted snipers to protect endangered penguins in its biggest city, Sydney, after a spate of attacks, officials said on Tuesday.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service deployed its own marksmen as well as infrared cameras and traps after nine penguins were mauled to death by dogs or foxes in bushland to the city's north.

Parks officials have carried out autopsies on the dead penguins and are also using DNA testing to try to track their killers.