Abandoned chicks admitted to its centres. Picture: Francois Louw. SANCCOB
Cape Town - The population of the iconic
African penguin has crashed to such an extent that the Cape seabird has
become endangered.
Now, the annual chick season, abandoned or
orphaned youngsters are being rescued and rehabilitated by conservation
authorities in a bid to make each one count.
So far 89 penguin chicks have already been
admitted to rehabilitation centres run by Sanccob (Southern African
Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) at Table View and Cape
St Francis, with conservationists regularly searching for more.
Ornithologists estimate that at the turn of the
19th century, there were as many as one million breeding pairs of this
seabird at just one of the breeding colonies: Dassen Island off
Yzerfontein on the West Coast.
Last year, there were just 3 900 breeding pairs
on Dassen Island. The population of this bird, that occurs only on the
South African and Namibian coasts, is crashing at the alarming rate of
20 percent a year.
According to conservation group BirdLife SA,
the South African population of these birds is about 19 000 pairs, while
Namibia has only about 5 000 pairs left.
This is why Sanccob takes in some 300 to 400
abandoned chicks from colonies at Stony Point (Betty’s Bay), Boulders
Beach, Robben Island and Bird Island in Algoa Bay near East London. Few
chicks are taken from Dassen Island during this time as it has a
different breeding cycle.
Historically, numerous penguin chicks are
abandoned at the end of the breeding season just before their parents
start their annual moulting cycle when they are unable to hunt for fish
to feed their young, said Sanccob. “As a result, the chicks face starvation unless conservation managers intervene.”
So Sanccob works with SA National Parks, the
Overstrand municipality and CapeNature to find and catch all underweight
and ill chicks.
Last week nine chicks were removed from Robben
Island. Sanccob researcher Dr Nola Parsons said: “Very few chicks are
left in the Robben Island colony as it’s the end of the breeding season.
We measured the head size and weight of 21 chicks, nine of which were
under the required measurements and therefore brought to Sanccob for
rehabilitation.”
Once at the centres, these “Christmas chicks”,
as they are fondly named, are allowed to swim, are fed “fish smoothies”
and are taken care of round the clock to ensure that they get released
back into the wild.
Nicky Stander, Sanccob’s rehabilitation manager
at Table View, said: “The condition of the birds admitted so far is
stable and they are responding positively. However, given the recent
unseasonal storm, various colonies were hit hard with chicks succumbing
to hypothermia…”
l If you’d like to help, visit
www.sanccob.co.za and click on “Adopt a Christmas chick”. For R500 you
get to name “your” chick and you’ll cover the cost of its rehabilitation
and release back into the wild. You will also receive a brief history
of the chick, a photo and a certificate of adoption. This is valid only
until December 15.
A fight for survival
The African Penguin is more threatened than the
White Rhino, with a population only about 14 percent of the 1950s level
when the first official census was conducted. In 2010, the bird’s
status was changed from “vulnerable” to “endangered” by BirdLife
International.
Today, the birds are threatened by seals, sharks, oil spills, and a lack of food.
“By far the biggest concern is, quite simply, a
lack of food. Penguins eat mainly sardines and anchovies, which are
also the target of the commercial purse-seine fishing industry. However,
the role fishing has played in the decrease is hotly debated,” says
BirdLife SA.
Attempts to decrease mortality include
eradicating invasive predators, reducing predation by natural predators
(such as seals) around colonies, rehabilitation and disease control.
But none of these efforts has halted the decrease in the population yet.
On the protective trail
One way to help stop the decrease in African
penguin numbers would be know where they go after breeding or moulting,
says BirdLife SA.
“We cannot help protect them if we’ve no idea where they are and what threats they’re facing.”
One way of tracking penguins is by fitting them
with tiny GPS tracking devices. Weighing just 100g, these trackers are
expensive at R30 000 each, and cost R2 000 a month in satellite
connection time.
“By knowing if they stay close to their
breeding islands after breeding or moulting, or travel away from them,
we can see if they are likely to come into competition for food with the
sardine and anchovy fisheries, and whether implementing special
management areas will help,” says BirdLife SA. - Cape Argus
To follow the tracks of these tagged penguins, go to http://www.birdlife.org.za/conservation/seabirds/tracking-penguins
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