Durban – South African Association for Marine Biological Research (Saambr) animal behaviourist Kelly de Klerk and African penguin Donatello are getting ready for the waddle on Saturday, International African Penguin Awareness Day.
Saambr’s Ann Kunz said the organisation’s staff would join Point Parkrun runners, walkers and waddlers who are taking part in the campaign to help spread awareness of the plight of the flightless birds.
“The African penguin, which is only found in South Africa and Namibia, is facing extinction,” Kunz said.
She said the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Environment (DFFE), along with conservation organisations and research institutions, have been monitoring the African penguin population and noted an 8% decline per year since 2005, which puts them at risk of becoming functionally extinct within the next two decades.
“That does not leave us much time,” Kunz said.
“Saambr is a member of the Biodiversity Management Plan (BMP) which is dedicated to the conservation of the African penguin. The resident penguins at uShaka Sea World form part of an assurance population which is an important part of a functional species survival plan for endangered species.”
To find out more about how you can help, Kunz said, join the Point Parkrun on Saturday. Participants should wear black and white.
If you are unable to make your way to the promenade, visit Dyer Island's Conservation Trust’s website https://dict.org.za/ where you will find information on the projects they are working on. One of their projects focuses on providing man-made nesting sites to help support the adult penguins raising their chicks.
The Point Parkrun to spread awareness about the penguins starts at 8am from the Marine Lifesaving Club. Registration is free.
Other major cities in the country are hosting big waddles for International African Penguin Awareness Day.
The Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town will be waddling at the V&A Waterfront and has helped to arrange a waddle, in association with Marine Dynamics and I Am Water, from Simon’s Town to Boulders Beach – the home of about 9% of the African penguin population.
The Johannesburg Zoo and the Penguin Protection Parade at Emmarentia Dam have South Africa’s largest city covered, while the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) is waddling in Gqeberha, and the National Zoological Garden in Pretoria will be awarding prizes and giving penguin talks during its zoo-based waddle.
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