This will hopefully give us enough time to clean the polluted areas. Today staff from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism also started cleaning the rocks and beaches of Robben Island using special oil absorbent material. Moosa thanked the people of Cape Town who have risen to the occasion by volunteering to help clean up and take part in the penguin rescue mission. In busy shipping areas like South Africa, oil spills often damage penguins' feathers, causing them to lose their insulating, water-repellent quality. Penguins may freeze or starve if they cannot swim to catch food.
Penguins also ingest oil, which is fatal.
De-oiling birds is a time consuming, exacting process. Urquart says penguins have an 85 percent survival rate after de-oiling. The IUCN World Conservation Union officially lists them as vulnerable with a population of only about 179,000 individuals. All Rights Reserved. Inc. All Rights Reserved.