April 10th update on oiled Rockhopper penguin rescue at Tristan da Cunha – rescue experts from SANCCOB have arrived, and washing of the penguins will begin soon

There has not been much news coming out of Tristan over the last few days. I imagine this is due to rescuers working non-stop on the creation of a temporary rehabilitation facility on the main island (Tristan da Cunha). Once the ship from Cape Town arrived last Tuesday, the rescue team from South Africa immediately set about preparing this center and triaging thousands of oiled penguins. This team brings with them a great deal of experience managing large-scale penguin and seabird rescue operations (including the Apollo Sea, Cordigliera, and Treasure oil spill rescues). So, for today, I am taking the following news directly from the official Tristan da Cunha website. This is their most recent report, which was posted last Wednesday, April 6th.

Wednesday 6th April Report from RSPB Project Officer Katrine Herian – Tug Singapore unloads

On the afternoon of Tuesday 5 th April, after seven days at sea on board the support tug Svitzer Singapore, the SANCCOB team were able to get ashore at Tristan while offloading began of the specialist equipment and materials needed for washing the penguins. Vital vitamins and medicines also came ashore and these were already being put to use in the rehab centre’s intensive care unit later than evening. Venessa Strauss, CEO at SANCCOB (The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) reported the team were relieved to get ashore, as bad weather had kept them on board the tug Singapore one extra day which had been very frustrating. Offloading SANCCOB’s equipment from the “Svitzer Singapore” continued throughout Wednesday, and weather permitting should be completed on Thursday 7 th April.

The Svitzer Singapore (the tug from Cape Town) unloading at Tristan on April 5th. Photo by Katrine Herian

SANCCOB Team impressed with Tristan rehabilitation effort

This morning the five members of the SANCCOB team including Veterinarian Tertius Gous, met many of the islanders involved in the rehab operation as they started their daily shift tubing and feeding the penguins. The SANCCOB team were impressed with the set up at the rehab centre and praised the islanders’ efforts under difficult conditions and with very limited resources. It is now two weeks since the first oiled penguins arrived at the rehab centre, and three weeks since the OLIVA grounded on Nightingale Island.

Environmental Advisor and former SANCCOB Centre Manager, Estelle van der Merwe, watches as volunteers feed the penguins. Photo by Tina Glass

Cleaning operation planned

Today work began on installing specialist equipment at the wash-bay facility which will be housed in two government containers close to the rehab shed. Here hot water geysers will be installed for the penguin-washing operation (to remove the heavy bunker oil), as well as infrared lights in a drying room. Outside, large tanks will collect and separate the waste-oil/solids and grey water from the washing process. SANCCOB logistics manager Mariëtte Hopley reported the washing facility would be up and running on Friday, when training would begin for islanders in the washing of penguins.
The rehab shed was cleaned out and disinfected before turning it into a dedicated unit for sick and weaker penguins. Working closely with the island rehab manager Dereck Rogers, the SANCCOB team separated penguins by habitus, with the very weakest penguins being moved into the rehab shed.

 

Cleaning the rehab shed at Tristan da Cunha. Photo by Katrine Herian

Pilchards imported to supplement local fish food for penguins

By midday the first boxes of frozen pilchards had come ashore and were being defrosted and fed to the stronger penguins which are being prepared for “washing” over the weekend. Each penguin was fed one pilchard for the first day, as they need to get used to the change in diet from the local yellowtail and five fingers fish fed to them thus far.

Feeding locally caught fish to the penguins. Photo by Katrine Herian

Outer islands oil pollution assessment

Dr. Mark Whittington (of ITOPF) , and Mr. Jean-Luc Dardidon (of Le Floch), visited Middle & Nightingale Islands to assess the residual oil remaining in the bays and on the rocks after the OLIVA grounded on the 16 th March. A plan shall shortly be formalised to deal with the remaining oil, and to prevent further impact on the penguin and bird colonies.

BRIEF UPDATE:

A helicopter is supposedly on standby on another ship (the Ivan Papanin) that is waiting to head to Tristan from Cape Town. The chopper will be of tremendous help in moving penguins off of the islands, monitoring the number of birds still on the islands, and transporting clean penguins away from the oil-contaminated waters in the area. I will have another update about this in my next post (which will be later today or tomorrow).

To read more about this penguin rescue (and to see more photos), visit the official Tristan da Cunha website here. This page commences with the first rescue of oiled penguins on March 19, 2011.

PLEASE HELP BY DONATING TO THIS PENGUIN RESCUE EFFORT TODAY!

While the ship’s insurers are supposed to pay for rescue and clean-up efforts, this takes a long time – and, from what I understand, there has been little or no response from the owners and insurers of the MS Oliva. Without help from the outside world, these endangered penguins (and other seabirds) are at great risk. The islanders and the small team of rescue professionals currently on Tristan da Cunha are doing everything they can to save these oiled birds, but they need funding to carry out this critical rescue mission. Please let them know they are not alone in this – you can help them by donating generously to one of the following groups today. And please spread the word! Thank you!

The Ocean Doctor (Dr. David Guggenheim): http://oceandoctor.org/ (Click on the green ‘donate now’ button in the right-hand column.) Or go to this link: Nightingale Island Disaster Penguin and Seabird Rescue Fund

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds: Nightingale Island Emergency Appeal

Foundation for Antarctic Research: Catastrophic Oil Spill – Tristan

Dyan deNapoli (The Penguin Lady) – author of The Great Penguin Rescue

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The first 24 of thousands of oiled Rockhopper penguins at Tristan da Cunha have been released!

This past Sunday marked an important turning point in the massive rescue operation currently underway at Tristan da Cunha. Of the 3,662 oiled penguins that have been collected to date, twenty-four lucky birds were released after making it through the cleaning and rehabilitation process. Here is a link to an article about this release from BirdLife International’s website: First Tristan penguins released from rehab. Katrine Herian, RSPB’S Project Officer on the island, was quoted as saying, “It was an emotional moment to see these penguins released from captivity and walk into the sea and then swim off among the waves.”

Having served as a rehabilitation supervisor during the rescue of 19,000 oiled penguins during the Treasure oil spill in 2000, I can just imagine the thrill of that moment. I say ‘imagine’ because I was in South Africa for the first three weeks of the operation, and most of our team had to leave Cape Town before any of the penguins were released. It was incredibly hard to leave without knowing how the penguins would fare – and excruciating leaving our colleagues behind where there was still so much work to be done. I always felt as though we had missed an important part of the rescue experience by not witnessing a release of some of the penguins we had worked so hard to save.

Release of first 24 Rockhopper penguins at Tristan. Photo by Trevor Glass

But the work is far from over on Tristan. They still have more than 3,600 oiled birds under their care – and thousands more oiled penguins (as well as other oiled birds and marine mammals) are still out on the islands. In addition to the oiled birds they’ve rescued, about 1,500 clean penguins have been collected to be transported to clean waters far from the area. So far, about 375 of the oiled penguins they’ve collected have died. Because it has taken so long for supplies and more help to arrive, the penguins’ chances of survival are more tenuous. The longer a penguin sits covered in oil, the more susceptible it is to illness or death.

Oil-covered Rockhopper penguins on Nightingale Island. Photo by Trevor Glass.

The good news is that the long-awaited second ship finally arrived from Cape Town earlier this week, carrying much-needed supplies and an experienced rescue team. Included on this team are Mariette Hopley, a superhuman dynamo who is a logistical genius. Mariette oversaw the creation and operation of the Salt River Penguin Crisis Centre during the Treasure rescue effort – this was a satellite facility that housed 16,000 of the 19,000 oiled penguins collected from Robben and Dassen Islands. Also on the ship was Venessa Strauss, current CEO of SANCCOB, the premier penguin rescue center in South Africa. They’ll be joining former colleague Estelle van der Merwe who, as previous Centre Manager of SANCCOB, served as the Treasure Crisis Manager overseeing the entire operation. Estelle was a member of the first rescue team to arrive at Tristan da Cunha following the sinking of the MS Oliva, and is currently serving as Environmental Advisor for this disaster. Although the task ahead of these experts, the Tristan Conservation Team, and the 100 islanders working to save the oiled birds is almost incomprehensible, I feel a great sense of relief knowing that these three extraordinarily capable women are on the rescue team.

Estelle van der Merwe with oiled Rockhoppers at Tristan da Cunha.

I encourage everyone who cares even a little bit about penguins or other birds, or about animals and nature in general to consider making a donation to help save these endangered penguins. There are just 150,000-200,000 Northern Rockhopper penguins left on earth, and most of them live in this remote island group. Conservation experts on the islands have estimated that up to 40,000 penguins could become oiled. This spill could have a devastating impact on their rapidly dwindling population. You can donate to help save these birds through one of the following groups. Please give generously! Thank you!

The Ocean Doctor (Dr. David Guggenheim) via The Ocean Foundation:  http://oceandoctor.org/ (Click on the green ‘donate now’ button in the right-hand column.) Or go to this link: Nightingale Island Disaster Penguin and Seabird Rescue Fund

RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds): Nightingale Island Emergency Appeal

Foundation for Antarctic Research (via Crowdrise): Catastrophic Oil Spill – Tristan

BirdLife International’s “Community” page will feature regular updates on the rescue effort, so check it often for the latest news. Here is their Tristan report from yesterday: Island gets set to wash thousands of penguins.

Thank you!

Dyan deNapoli (The Penguin Lady) – author of The Great Penguin Rescue

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