By: Christina Pretorius
This update is sent courtesy of Francois Louw, the
Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds
(SANCCOB) Development and Marketing Officer.--CP
Since 20 October, SANCCOB, a non-profit seabird centre in
South Africa and International Fund for Animal Welfare partner, has
rescued 279 abandoned African penguin chicks.
These small, fluffy chicks were admitted to SANCCOB’s
centres in Cape Town, South Africa from their colonies because their
parents were unable to care for them. The chicks would otherwise not have survived.
Our staff and volunteers are giving these little birds the
best care in the world to ensure they will be released back into the
wild, healthy, well-fed and ready to face life in the ocean.
Parent penguins do not abandon their chicks on purpose.
Once a year, adult penguins undergo their annual feather-change, also
known as moulting. During this process, which lasts three to four weeks,
the parents replace their “tuxedo” with a brand new set of waterproof
feathers to last them for another year.
While undergoing this feather-change, they are unable to
go into the ocean to hunt for fish so they make sure they have enough
fat reserves to sustain themselves for the three- to four-week period.
If, however, they have chicks in the nest that have yet to fledge – the
adults are unable to feed them and, as a result, these chicks become
abandoned and face starvation unless conservation organisations like SANCCOB and its partners intervene.
This year, the need for support is more than it has been in the past.
Once in SANCCOB’s care, the process of rehabilitating and
rearing these helpless chicks can take anywhere from six weeks to three
months. According to Nicky Stander, SANCCOB’s Rehabilitation Manager: “The
majority of the chicks admitted this year are significantly smaller and
younger than previous years. This means that they will stay for much
longer at SANCCOB and therefore the cost of raising them will increase
as a result.”
SANCCOB’s staff continually monitors the chicks’ weight,
health and ensures that they develop a healthy plumage of waterproof
feathers. Once the chicks have received the final nod of approval from
SANCCOB’s veterinary team and are at fledging age, they are released
back into an established colony like Boulders Beach or Stony Point.
Since the project’s inception in 2006, SANCCOB has
successfully hand-reared and released almost 4 000 chicks which
otherwise would not have survived on their own.
The African penguin, one of South Africa’s most iconic species, was classified as endangered in 2010.
With an estimated 25 000 breeding pairs left in the wild, the
population is at approximately 2.5 per cent of the estimated figure of
one million breeding pairs, recorded in the early 20th
century. With the rapid decline of this species, the survival of
individual penguins is critical if we want to save this charismatic
species from extinction.
SANCCOB and its project partners are working to preserve
the wild African penguin population by rescuing abandoned eggs and
chicks and releasing them back into the wild, after being successfully
hand-reared at one of its two seabird centres. On-going research shows that the rehabilitated chicks’ survival rate is comparable to that of naturally reared birds.
This is, therefore, one of the most important interventions to conserve the dwindling African penguin population.
The success of the project relies heavily on donations to
pay for fish, medicine, veterinary supplies, and electricity for the
incubators, staff training and equipment needed for the rehabilitation
process.
To help raise these African penguin chicks over the festive period, you can contribute to their rehabilitation costs.
- $14 buys three boxes of fish
- $36 helps to buy medicine and veterinary supplies
- $72 helps to feed and care for one chick
Thank you for your support!
--FL
Please make a gift to IFAW to help us help abandoned African penguin chicks.
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