Cape Town - After a challenging 10 weeks of quarantine at the SA Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) Cape Town facility, due to an outbreak of avian flu in endangered African penguins, Sanccob has released 342 rehabilitated and hand-reared sea birds back into the wild.
In November last year the facility received positive test results for African penguins undergoing rehabilitation at its Cape Town centre, which set in motion an immediate implementation of strict bio-security measures and eventual temporary quarantine, applied by Western Cape Veterinary Services to prevent further spread.
Western Cape Department of Agriculture state vet Laura Roberts said Sanccob’s quarantine was lifted on February 1 after all the birds tested negative for the avian flu virus.
There have been no more cases since.
Sanccob resource development manager Ronnis Daniels said that from February 2 they carried out an average of two releases a week throughout the month, releasing rehabilitated and hand-reared sea birds at De Hoop Nature Reserve, Stony Point, Simon’s Town and Intaka Island.
Of the released sea birds, 294 were African penguins and 36 of these were returned to the wild at De Hoop Nature Reserve – the first release of penguins at this site for 2023.
One of the factors that contributed to the decline in African penguins over the decades was that in the late 19th century, penguin eggs became a delicacy among the rich and famous – to such an extent that African penguin eggs were served on the Titanic and every Wednesday as a breakfast delight in the South African Parliament, according to Dyer Island Conservation Trust.
Daniels said: “According to Shannon and Crawford (1999), the historical practice of egg collection in the 1800s and 1900s had a significant impact on recruitment to the African penguin population during the early 20th century.
“We can only assume this was done because the eggs were rare.”
Sanccob has entered its next busy time of year, when many African penguin eggs are admitted for incubation as nests are abandoned by parents or found in unsafe nesting areas by penguin and sea bird rangers.
Daniels said viable eggs with developing embryos were incubated and monitored daily and once hatched, the tiny hatchling is fed six times a day.