20 November 2012 | News story How do you rehabilitate hundreds
of oiled penguins to release back into the wild? It only takes
an hour to wash and rinse an oily African penguin (Spheniscus
demersus), but it takes nearly four weeks to rehabilitate the
bird for release back into the wild. The five-stage process
developed by the Southern African Foundation for the
Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), an IUCN member, begins
with search and recovery. But successful rehabilitation and
release depends on dedicated trained personnel with plenty of
energy, rubber gloves, soapy-water and most importantly the
expertise and knowledge accumulated over years of experience
dealing with wildlife crises at the national and international
level. Responding to the most recent oil spill from the SELI 1
wreck just offshore from Cape Town, SOS Save Our Species funded
SANCCOB to implement emergency measures to help save one of the
African penguin's most threatened colonies. Commenting on the
process, Venessa Strauss, SANCCOB Dire