Penguins rescued in Algoa Bay oil spillage
South African National Parks marine rangers have managed to rescue four oiled penguins following this weekend's oil spill off the Port of Nquga in Algoa Bay.
This follows an incident that occured in the early hours of Saturday morning, where approximately 200 to 400 liters of fuel was spilled into the sea as a result of overflow during an oil transfer.
SANParks spokesperson, Fayroush Ludick, says rangers had initially observed six penguins on St Croix but only managed to catch four, while two more were oil covered penguins were seen on Bird Island.
She says four of the birds have since been handed over to the animal rescue and rehabilitation organization SANCOBB and that its a matter of waiting for favourable weather conditions to try and recover the other oiled birds.
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The Eastern Cape Manager of SANCOBB Stacey Webb - says there is the possibility that more birds were affected as the oil spill occured while they were off Bird Island and St Croix Island feeding.
She says they'll be monitoring the Bay's penguin population closely over the next few days.
"Three of them have 90% of their bodies covered in very thick black oil. One of them is 75% covered. It depends on the amount of oil they have ingested. They are strong birds and we hope they will be OK," Webb said.
