Thursday, December 5, 2013

Birdworld penguin man helps chick-rearing project in Cape Town

  • By Henry Bodkin

A Birdworld staff member is jetting off to South Africa to help hand-rear penguin chicks before releasing them back into the wild
Birdworld's penguins Punk and Pickles
Birdworld's penguins Punk and Pickles
Birdworld expert Jack Williams
Birdworld expert Jack Williams
A penguin expert from Birdworld in Farnham has been flown to South Africa to help rescue chicks abandoned by their parents.

Jack Williams, 27, has joined a Cape Town project that searches for late-hatching chicks, and hand-rears them before releasing them into the wild.

Mr Williams has built his expertise at Birdworld over the past three and a half years, where he has successfully hand-reared two African penguins, Punk and Pickles.

The two-week scheme will help many African penguins and other imperilled seabirds make it through the first few months of life, bolstering the threatened wild population.
 Mark Anderson, manager of Birdworld, said: "Jack was the obvious choice for someone from Birdworld to share our knowledge and protocols with this important conservation project.

"This is a great opportunity for Jack, and we are sure he will return with valuable knowledge to further our breeding success."

Mr Williams' visit to South Africa will be documented in a new television series presented by Michaela Strachan, The Great Penguin Rescue, which premiered on the Eden Channel last week.

source

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