Young lifeguards on duty stopped to rescue a baby African penguin in bad shape – because of them, this is a story of survival!
Cape Town, South Africa (03 November 2026) – When people show up for the penguins!
Less than a month after compassionate kayakers went the extra mile to save a critically endangered penguin’s life, it has happened again. This time, Big Bay lifeguards are the heroes of the story.
Big Bay Surf Lifesaving Club is a volunteer surf lifesaving club based at Big Bay beach. Its lifeguards patrol the beach and look after swimmers, and the club also trains youth in lifesaving through its Nippers programme for kids.
On Sunday at around noon, young lifeguards spotted a juvenile African penguin in distress. With care for every life out on the waters – even the ones that waddle – they decided to act.
“The juvenile penguin was cold and malnourished, and our lifeguards contacted SANCCOB, who came to its rescue.” shares Big Bay Surf Lifesaving Club on Facebook.
The penguin was in bad shape, SANCCOB was contacted immediately. It is now safely in the local organisation’s care.
SANCCOB does wonderful work in rescuing and rehabilitating seabirds. It runs a 24-hour emergency response for sick, injured, abandoned and oiled sea friends with feathers. African penguins are its flagship species. It treats injured, sick, starving penguins, hand-rears hundreds of abandoned chicks and eggs every year, and monitors the species for conservation.
Every single bird counts, because there sadly aren’t many left.
African penguins are critically endangered and, at the current rate, could be extinct in the wild by 2035. They’re an indicator species, so their numbers track the health of the ocean. Their current decline is directly linked to overfishing of anchovies and sardines, along with climate change.
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They used to be called ‘jackass penguins’ because they bray like donkeys. Between 80 and 90 percent of couples stay together for life. The scientific name, Spheniscus demersus, means ‘diving wedges’. And when they overheat, blood flows to glands above their eyes, so the hotter the penguin, the pinker its eyebrows!
Thanks to the young lifeguards, one more young African penguin has been saved, and hopefully, will soon enjoy a life out in the wild.
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