Vulnerable young African penguins take first dive at Dyer Island
DYER Island was a hive of activity this weekend as 16 young African penguins were seen excitedly going for their first swim after being released back on the island from the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary where they were fed and rehabilitated this month.
A total of 120 compromised and orphaned chicks were removed from the island at the end of the breeding season in the beginning of November, when the adults go through their annual moult (feather shedding), to prevent them from starving to death or journeying into the ocean without the necessary amount of fat reserves to allow them to survive the challenges of the wild.
They then got taken to the sanctuary, a project of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust (Dict), where staff have been working non-stop, seven days a week, for the past month on their rehabilitation and feeding.
This removal and release was one of the efforts to try to stabilise the declining African penguin population, which has reached a crisis point and formed part of the African Penguin Biodiversity Management Plan by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment.
As the managing authority responsible for Dyer Island, Capenature marine and coast specialist Deon Geldenhuys said they identified which chicks of the critically endangered species on the island needed to be rescued for this rehabilitation at the sanctuary.
Dict conservation manager Trudi Malan said: “The African penguin
population needs all the help they can get to prevent this species from becoming extinct in the wild. Today we celebrate the release of another 16 African penguin fledglings back into the big blue. This is the second group of birds that have reached the target weight of 2.8kg and can now be returned to the island.”
Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) research manager Katta Ludynia explained that the African penguin’s decline was an indicator of the poor condition that the marine ecosystem was in and people should be alarmed – not only for the penguins.
In 2022, Ludynia said the lowestever recorded number of breeding African penguins in South Africa was reached, with just 10 000 pairs. Twenty years ago, Dassen Island on the West Coast had 20 000 breeding pairs and only half of that number was left in the entire country.
Dict spokesperson Christine Wessels said the increased “baby boom” placed a big financial burden on the already stressed sanctuary budget.
Senior bird rehabilitator Xolani Lawo said: “These little fluffy ones are also particular about their fish; it has to be fresh, fatty and of best quality. We order our sardines from a specific supplier in Hermanus that seems to please the African penguin pallet.”
Wessels appealed to the public to support the sanctuary by buying Christmas gifts at the gift shop or making a donation via https://www.givengain.com/cc/project-sisonke-sikhula-together-we-grow/ or https://dict. org.za/…/african-penguin-seabirdsanctuary/.