Cape Town - Fifty of the 1 700 Cape cormorant chicks rescued from Robben Island earlier this month are expected to be released in the next three weeks depending on various health factors.
Approximately 9% of the Cape cormorant chicks abandoned died in the first 24 hours. They were considered the weakest and most compromised chicks.
Volunteers at the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) are currently caring for the 1 174 Cape cormorants that survived.
Sanccob’s Preparedness and Response manager Nicky Stander said: “Older chicks may be released in the next three to four weeks, however this will largely depend on their overall health; body condition, blood results, waterproof feathers and exhibiting flight behaviour. Approximately 50 of these chicks are currently in the weight category of over 800g, therefore these are flagged as the first birds up for release.”
She said they will discuss the release site with government and conservation authorities in the week ahead. The site where the birds will be released should have the optimal conditions for them to successfully integrate into the wild population. Other aspects to consider are sufficient food availability, low predation risk and an existing large colony of Cape cormorants.
There are 40 volunteers on a daily basis cleaning, doing the fish preparation and laundry for the chicks.
Sanccob said Cape cormorant chicks are a challenging species to care for within a rehabilitation centre because the stabilisation and adjustment from the wild to an artificial hospital environment also induces stressors, placing them at an increased risk of secondary infections which can be fatal.
Sanccob’s Research manager Katta Ludynia said: “The wild population of Cape cormorants has more than halved in the last 30 years and the declining trend continues. Even though there are still more Cape cormorants in the wild compared to the African penguin, the species is in danger of extinction as is the iconic African penguin. Cape cormorants breed and forage in very large groups and a further decline in the number of birds can lead to a more rapid decline as smaller groups of cormorants may breed and forage less successfully.”
She said it is therefore important to make sure we keep relatively large numbers of these endemic birds in the wild (the Cape cormorant only breeds in South Africa, Namibia and in southern Angola).
Cape Argus