The population of African penguins has drastically declined over the last century.
Experts say they could go extinct in the next few decades as only 2% of the species’ 20th century population remains.
“So in the early 1900, there were millions of birds. The latest sensors last year showed that in South Africa we have about 10,000 breeding pairs left which are very, very little. Just 20 years ago, we had over 20,000 breeding pairs on just on one single Ireland, whereas now we have 10,000 breeding pairs in the entire country,” said Dr. Katrin Ludynia, the research manager of the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), an international body dedicated to seabird rehabilitation.
Human factors, like industrial fishing, pollution and oil spills, affect the endangered species. Climate change is also a contributing factor.
“For other cases such as injuries, broken legs, emaciation,” SANCCOB Rehabilitation Manager Romy Klusener said. “It really does depend on how strong that birders that has come in. So we can have cases here for about a month, but two months, we’ve even had cases with been with us for over a year.”
It can be painstaking work. But penguins in Africa need all the help they can get.