More than 100 African penguins were evacuated from coastal islands of Namibia after an oil spill and sent to South Africa where an international team is cleaning off the oil and caring for them.
Steve Sarro, left, the National Aviary's director of animal programs, tends to an African penguin that was impacted by an oil spill off the coast of Namibia.
Aviary part of international penguin rescue effort
By The Tribune-Review Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The National Aviary on the North Side is part of an international team working to save African penguins affected by an oil spill along the southern Namibian coastline, the aviary announced today.
Steve Sarro, the Aviary's director of animal programs, is helping to clean 129 penguins covered in oil. One of the Aviary's most characteristic ambassadors is the African penguin. By Memorial Day, the Aviary plans to open Penguin Point, an exhibit that will house about a dozen African penguins.
According to the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, the penguins are being evacuated to South Africa for rehabilitation. The foundation said the source of the oil spill hasn't been identified and is making the water around the coastal islands of Mercury, Ichaboe, Halifax and Possession frothy with foam and patchy with oil.
African penguins are listed as 'vulnerable' to extinction, with 27,000 breeding pairs left, down from 4 million at the turn of the century, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and National Resources.
Story and images courtesy of TribLive News @
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_621611.html
No comments:
Post a Comment