SOUTH AFRICA (Commonwealth Union) – From Pingu to Madagascar and Happy Feet, we have had the pleasure of growing up with cute penguin cartoons from our childhood well into our adulthoods. Apart from the cartoons, there have also been documentaries where the lives of these furry little birds are shown on nature channels as well as the internet.
Penguins are not found in all countries unless there are specific sanctuaries for them. They are mostly found in ice cold environments since that is their natural habitat. Whilst most of the news regarding animal and environmental development and welfare has been good, there is some sad news coming in from South Africa.
There is an island in Algoa Bay named St Croix, which happens to be the home to the largest breeding colony of African penguins in the world. Now this is a huge colony of penguins as the numbers pre-pandemic were close to almost 10,000 adult penguins.
However, there has been a rapid decline in these numbers in the past few years and for once it is not COVID-19 that is the cause. There have been multiple causes that have been identified, with some of the more serious ones including the increase of human activity on the island, as well as climate change.
The flightless bird is now at more risk because there have been many oil spills in the bay since the year 2016. To clarify this, the oil spills stop them from going out to the ocean to find food. The adult birds are unable to feed their young which means the young die of starvation. For this reason, the colonies moved away from the bay so they could avoid the areas that were affected by the oil leaks.
There were several research teams that stated to the media that there are about a few thousand mating pairs still left that could help up the numbers in the colony. However, for this to happen, there has to be a lot of change required on the island, while surrounding nations also have to be mindful when they use the island or the bay area.
