It’s all hands on deck this baby boom season! Staff and volunteers at the African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary are working around the clock, tackling daily feeding, scrubbing, and disinfecting to care for the newest chicks in their busy crèche.
Gansbaai, South Africa (21 October 2025) – It is that time of the year when the adult African Penguins on Dyer Island undergo their annual moult, a natural process in which they shed and regrow their feathers.
The season presents its fair share of challenges when the adult penguins cannot swim to find fresh fish for their chicks, due to losing their waterproof layer.
The penguin life cycle is essentially divided into two phases: breeding and moult. The moulting phase begins shortly after the breeding season, and chicks are normally fledged before adults start to moult. However, if these phases overlap, adult penguins risk starvation, and parents may have to abandon their chicks before they are fully fledged.
African Penguins typically breed twice a year, laying two eggs per season, with both parents sharing the responsibility of feeding the chicks.
Parents forage up to 30 kilometres from Dyer Island to find enough food for their young. Nature prioritises adult survival over chick survival, as the adults are the breeding individuals essential for maintaining the population. Unfortunately, this means that chicks left on the island during this period face a very high risk of death.
Looking Out for Vulnerable Chicks
To protect these vulnerable chicks, the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, in partnership with CapeNature, intervenes. As Wilfred Chivell, CEO of Marine Dynamics and Founder of the Trust, explains:
“It’s a heartbreaking time of the year for me… Imagine parents working all day to gather enough food for their little ones, dodging fishing vessels, predation from seals, plastic and other pollution, only to return, completely exhausted, to an empty nest. I can’t believe what we have done to these animals that are so feisty.”
Wilfred often refers to the African Penguin as the honey badger of the ocean. But years of guano scraping, egg harvesting, overfishing, predation by gulls, seals and other animals on eggs, chicks and adults, as well as poor management at some colonies, have resulted in these “badgers” being obliterated!
Since last week, 32 chicks have been safely removed from Dyer Island to the Trust’s African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary (APSS).
Providing proper care for these chicks is resource-intensive as the chick crèche consumes six boxes of high-quality sardines each day, and feeding requires firm sardines from trusted fish suppliers, costing about R150 per box.
“Penguins are highly selective and will not eat substandard or overly oily fish. Just this week, the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary spent just over R21 000 ensuring those fluffy baby bellies are full! That’s excluding our ten permanent residents at the Sanctuary, or any other running costs such as daily vitamins and medicine! This is going to be a very expensive festive season!” says Xolani Lawu, Senior Bird Rehabilitator.
He explains that the chicks receive special care and enough food to grow healthy and strong during their stay at APSS. Once they reach the required weight and are declared healthy, they will be released back on Dyer Island to rejoin their families.
African Penguin colonies are declining at an alarming rate. The current population is only 2.5% of what it was 80 years ago. In 1956, around 141,000 breeding pairs were counted; last year, that number plummeted to 19,000 pairs – a loss of nearly 90% in half a century.
“We are therefore at a point where every bird that we can save counts,” says Xolani.
How You Can Help
When asked how the public can assist, Xolani said:
“At the APSS, we are willing to do the hard work of cutting sardines into sushi-sized pieces, washing more towels than you can imagine, feeding all the begging little orphans, and scrubbing and disinfecting the sanctuary daily. But it is through the generosity of the public that we can do this work.”
The African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary, situated in Kleinbaai, is open daily from 9am to 4pm. The public can contribute by visiting the African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary, by donating old towels and newspapers or by donating to the Fishy Fund via the banking details below to help feed the penguins.
Banking Details
Account Type: Platinum Business Account
Account Number: 62568492343
Branch Name & Code: Hermanus, C.P. 247 / 200412
Swift Code: FIRNZAJJ
Reference: Fishy Fund
Sources: Supplied
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