Carmen Claire’s Penguin Release Experience on the 28th of July 2018
A few weeks ago I heard via the grapevine that a group of rehabilitated penguins would be released back into the wild on one of Plettenberg Bays beaches. How exciting? I now live in a place where the rehabilitation and conservation of animals is right at my finger tips!
For the longest time I have wanted to volunteer more, do more for my community, for nature for anything other than myself really, but back in Johannesburg I found most of my time taken up by my full time job. Most likely a lazy excuse, yes. Now that I have this new lease on life, and that i’m so enthralled and wrapped up in nature, wildlife and sustainability come hand in hand and I am so excited to start focusing more of my photography and content around topics like this. I love being in nature and everything that it has to offer and the more I immerse myself the more it reminds me that if we don’t look after the wildlife in it and the sustainability of our environment, the honest fact is eventually there will be no more nature to enjoy.
It was the first time i’ve shot any kind of wildlife other than seagulls and it was simply awesome! Natures Valley Trust along with Tenikwa and a few other organisations all organised and facilitated the release of 11 penguins they have been rehabilitating. Why did these penguins need rehabilitation?
To give you the long story short breakdown and the top line information that I am aware of, Plettenberg bay is home to an extremely diverse marine wildlife. One of the animals that loves our bay happens to be the African penguin. The reason we don’t see tons of them on our shores is that there are no breeding colonies in Plettenberg Bay. The closest breeding colony is in Port Elizabeth. Penguins are nomadic animals and the reason they visit our bay is for food. Occasionally, if they are hurt, sick or tired, they will come ashore especially the little fellas as they can get dehydrated or suffer from exertion. Natures valley trust is contacted whenever these little guys are seen on the beach and they then come out to assess the situation. If they need to be rehabbed they are then taken to Tenikwa wildlife, rehabilitated and then once ready, released into the wild again.
We saw 11 of these little fellas being released on Lookout beach in Plettenberg Bay. One however was not feeling up to it and decided he would rather hang back this time so Tenikwa has taken him back and will try release him again once he is 100% up to it.
Excited to bring you guys a lot more rehabilitation features and stories on how we can all work towards a more sustainable living.
Here are a few more of my favourite photos from the morning:
