PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - As African penguin numbers continue to dwindle, Plettenberg Bay conservationists have been doing their part in saving these marine birds.
According to Nature’s Valley Trust director Dr Mark Brown, in the 1950s there were about 140 000 African penguins, but 60 years down the line there are only about 19 000. Some of the main causes for this decline include overfishing as commercial enterprises catch fish such as sardines, anchovies, and herring.
Another major cause is habitat destruction caused by an increase in urban sprawl and historical overexploitation. This includes extraction of eggs and nesting material used by humans for fertiliser.
In Plettenberg Bay, these penguins are found feeding around the coast and often wash up on local beaches. This is due to factors such as dehydration, exhaustion, arrested moult or illness.
These birds are then rehabilitated at the Tenikwa Wildlife Rehabilitation and Awareness Centre outside Plettenberg Bay where they are nursed back to health.
Tenikwa and the Nature’s Valley Trust, along with other stakeholders including Wessa beach stewards, Cape Nature, the Orca Foundation and BirdLife Plettenberg Bay, then systematically release these penguins back into the wild. Over the past year the team has managed to conclude five releases, the fifth having taking place on Friday 21 September.
This is in line with national strategies that include breeding sites, which were lost, being subsidised with artificial nests, research into better fisheries management and new breeding colonies being established.
On Friday, eight penguins were released. Among those who came down to Lookout Beach to watch them waddle back into the ocean were youngsters including the Grade 2s from Greenwood Bay College. These youngsters raised R1 200 during a recent school function where they sold coffee and cupcakes. The money was donated to Tenikwa as the youngsters have been learning about endangered species during the course of the term.
The Little Stars country preschool also attended the release.
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