St Croix Island in Algoa Bay is home to the biggest African Penguin colony in the world. Unfortunately the number of penguins on the island has drastically reduced over the last couple of years and the reason for this basically comes down to pollution and over fishing. SAMREC (SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre) at Cape Recife takes in marine animals and birds that is injured or effected by pollution and does a great job nursing and caring for them as well as rehabilitating them back into the wild where possible. I haven't been to SAMREC for a while so I haven't seen their new rock pool facility, but I will pop in there soon and get some pics for the blogs.
I didnt realise just how endgangered these little birds are. They seem plentiful at Simonstown but apparently historical population numbers have falled to a fraction of what they were just a few years ago. I take my hat off to SAMREC. Lovely photo.
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