Rescued penguins make it safely to SA

THE 129 oil-smeared penguins that were rescued from Ichaboe, Halifax, Possession and Mercury islands around Lüderitz have all arrived safely in Cape Town.

They will now be cared for, and eventually released, by the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB). Staff of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and volunteers at Lüderitz washed the penguins with a special soap to remove the oil from their feathers.However, the soap also washed off the birds’ natural waterproofing and they cannot be released to swim and fish for themselves until this has been replenished.This means that they will have to be cared for and fed for about a month, and the Ministry does not have the resources to do this locally. They arrived safely in Cape Town after a 19-hour trip and all were in fairly good health. A death rate of 10 per cent is usually expected during such a long trip.The success of the operation is ascribed to several factors, such as the right containers which were specially designed for this purpose. They were packed three to a container to give them enough space and air to breathe, and luckily the weather played along too.The chief executive officer of SANCCOB, Vanessa Strauss, accompanied the penguins on the lorry and checked on their condition every two hours. This is the first time that Namibian penguins have been transported to South Africa. It is expected that they will be released in Cape Town and swim back to their breeding grounds on the islands off Lüderitz.In the meantime the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has issued a press release saying that it is still a mystery where the oil slick at Lüderitz originated. The oil could be from a sunken vessel or from a vessel illegally discharging oil further out at sea. The oil is suspected to be ‘heavy bunker oil’ and it is not clear how much more of it there is.Also unclear is how many other penguins and other sea birds like the endangered Bank Cormorants and Cape Gannets are still in danger and what other environmental damage has been caused.On April 17 patrol planes flying along the coast spotted large patches of oil in the vicinity of Halifax Island. A day earlier, ministerial staff based on Mercury Island reported a strong smell of oil and brown foam all around the island, moving in a northwesterly direction.The Ministry’s statement says it is able to deal with the oil spill at this stage, but it appeals to anybody with the necessary expertise to help contain the effects of the spill to contact the Ministry.