African penguins airlifted from oil spill zone

Thousands of African penguins are being evacuated from an island plagued by an oil slick

July 4, 2000
Web posted at: 4:28 p.m. EDT (2028 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

DASSEN ISLAND, South Africa (CNN) -- Thousands of penguins were being airlifted Tuesday from an island off the coast of South Africa in what experts are calling the biggest ever evacuation of wildlife.

Plagued by an oil spill off Cape Town almost two weeks ago, the African penguins off Dassen Island are either covered in oil or risk being fouled by the oil slick that has invaded their nesting area. Wildlife managers switched the focus of the rescue operation from adult birds to the penguin chicks Tuesday.

"We are going to save what we can save," Cape Nature Conservation scientist Tony Williams told reporters.

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He said there could be up to 15,000 fledgling penguin chicks, many of which have been abandoned by their oiled or rescued parents. The first priority had been removing the healthy adult birds to increase the likelihood of immediate breeding.

"As soon as we get the all clear we will start to release the chicks. I expect it to happen from the middle of next week," Williams said. "These birds are tough little devils."

Authorities were snatching the birds from their nests and placing them in vented boxes. The large slick of heavy fuel oil was leaking from the bulk carrier Treasure that sank while being towed out to sea. The evacuation is estimated to cost up to $5.8 million, most of which will be paid for by charitable donations.

As of Monday night, authorities had taken 6,500 adult penguins and expected to take 3,500 more Tuesday, said Cape Nature chief executive David Daitz. The rescue was to end at dusk Tuesday because the penguins left on the island must return to sea to feed after five days kept ashore by plastic fencing.

Some are being taken to Cape Town, where volunteers are cleaning them up. Others are being evacuated so they don't become oiled.

Dassen Island, which lies along one of the world's most-traveled shipping lanes, has experienced at least five previous oil spills. But Cape Nature spokeswoman Aletta Jordaan said the crisis was the worst to hit the colony on Dassen Island, home to about one-fifth of the world's African penguins, also known as jackass penguins.

"We have to stop the evacuation tonight," she said. "By then we will have got one-third of the breeding birds off the island."

The damage to the penguins is much worse than damage from a larger 1994 Apollo Sea spill because an abnormally calm winter has prevented the slick from breaking up.

Once the penguins are cleaned and checked out, they will be taken to Port Elizabeth and released. It will take them about three weeks for them to swim back to Dassen Island. Authorities hope to have the spill cleaned up by then.

Correspondent Michael Skinner and Reuters contributed to this report.

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