PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - While South Africans are enjoying a little more freedom with the easing of lockdown regulations, a group of Plettenberg Bay penguins will also experience this privilege when they are released back into the wild this week following time in a local animal rehabilitation centre.
Come Saturday 20 March, local conservationists will be hosting a penguin release on Lookout Beach at 08:30. This exercise has been done several times over the past three years in an effort to counter dwindling African penguin numbers.
Many penguins wash up on Plettenberg Bay beaches due to factors such as dehydration, exhaustion, arrested moult or illness. These birds are then rehabilitated at the Tenikwa Wildlife Rehabilitation and Awareness Centre on the outskirts of Plettenberg Bay where they are nursed back to health.
According to research, in the 1950s there were about 141 000 African penguins, but 60 years down the line there were only 19 300. One of the main causes for this decline is overfishing due to competition between commercial fisheries for fish such as sardines, anchovies and herring.
Many penguins have been released in Plettenberg Bay over the past few years as part of a conservation effort to counter dwindling African penguin numbers. Photo: Ewald Stander
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.
Most of the penguins found in the Southern Cape are believed to be from the Port Elizabeth penguin colony that have ended up in the area on their quest to find food. Food appears to be plentiful in the Plett area while other areas are showing signs of food source dwindling.
Tenikwa and the Nature's Valley Trust, along with other stakeholders including Wessa beach stewards, CapeNature, the Orca Foundation and BirdLife Plettenberg Bay, systematically release these penguins back into the wild.
This time around three African penguins will be released. Residents and visitors are encouraged to come and experience the moment and meet the team behind the efforts.
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