The Table View Branch of SANCCOB is working tirelessly to hand-feed penguin chicks and are continuing their weekly released back into the wild.
Table View, South Africa (23 April 2020) – The lockdown has been affecting every aspect of life, including the animal rescue and rehabilitation sector. The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) shared their experience through the lockdown.
Sharing their insights, their hope is to inform the public about their continued efforts to rehabilitate their resident penguins as well as their chicks.
“We wish to share some insights from the SANCCOB team on how we are doing to keep you informed and to stay connected. At SANCCOB, it is business as usual for our veterinary and bird departments providing essential services and our administration staff are still holding the fort at full capacity from home during South Africa’s lockdown. As a non-profit organisation that is completely reliant on donations to enable our work, the effects of COVID-19 have already been revealed in the immediate decrease in funding from those who are also in lockdown on the North American and European continents; 36% of our annual income is derived from these continents. You can find official updates on COVID-19 at these sites: South African Government and World Health Organisation.
At our Table View centre, we have been fortunate to have the assistance of remaining international volunteers, who have chosen to stay in South Africa, our reliable local volunteers and our dedicated interns who have selflessly stayed on board to care for 180 seabird patients. Staff members from other SANCCOB departments — experienced in bird handling and rehabilitation — have also stepped in to support the vet and rehabilitation teams on-site. In Port Elizabeth, we have been without volunteers since mid-March with four staff members taking care of 34 African penguins undergoing rehabilitation, and more than 50 permanent resident birds; 16 birds were successfully released last week. I want to take this opportunity to salute the commitment of the SANCCOB team and extended supporting role players, who always give their all for the welfare of the birds and the shared passion to bolster the wild population of seabirds.”
They have found the ICU to be less busy, mostly due to the fact that birds are not being found by beach-goers and walkers. This is a sad reality of the lockdown. They are continuing to respond to any calls received and encourage people to call them when there is a need.
“We have, however, responded to calls of seabirds in urban areas and continued to assist our conservation partners in transporting injured or sick seabirds from the mainland colonies to SANCCOB.
The focus at present at our Table View facility is the hand-rearing of over 100 African penguin chicks in the Chick Rearing Unit (CRU) and Nursery, ensuring that regular health checks are carried out, which includes evaluating blood samples and monitoring correct growth rates. Since the start of the year, the CRU has admitted 319 African penguin eggs. Eggs are brought in for a variety of reasons such as breeding close to the tidal lines and thus at risk of flooding or when excessive heat causes heat stress in the parent birds and results in abandonment of nests. With eggs hatching almost daily since March, we have been caring for these hatchlings round the clock.”
The organisation has continued its weekly releases which included some long-time residents that were recovering from broken legs. SANCCOB are excited about some good parts of the lockdown. Due to a lack of tourists and visitors, the sea birds of Simon’s Town have been able to raise their young undisturbed.
Even with the total loss of income at both SANCCOB centres, they have had a helping hand from their partners. They continue to welcome donations from the public. This can be direct donations or by adopting an egg or penguin.
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“During this global pandemic, we remain mindful that seabirds and other marine wildlife are still at risk from oil spills at sea because shipping of important goods around the world (including fuel) carries on during lockdown. SANCCOB remains prepared and on stand-by to respond to any oil spills affecting seabirds during this time. We are also using this time to help our partners improve oiled wildlife preparedness by developing oiled wildlife contingency plans along the South African coastline. We continue to fulfil our commitments to the various government scientific working groups such as the Small Pelagic Scientific Working Group and the Seabird Technical team, where we are observers and members respectively. In these groups, we provide scientific seabird conservation inputs to government decision-making processes such as ensuring adequate food availability for seabirds.
We continue to maintain our rehabilitation and conservation work and as always, pledge to uphold our core functions with you, our loyal supporters, at our side.
Be safe and cherish the moments we have to reflect, heal and grow as a globally united front to get through the months that lie ahead.”
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