Banded Penguin One Of Ours!
This is an update on the Oil Spill IFAW responded to December - February of this year:
One of the biologists that we were working very close with in Argentina, Carla Poleschi - Wildlife Branch Director for the Argentine Government, has been surveying surrounding areas and islands for remnants of the oil spill that IFAW responded to two months ago. Sure enough, hundreds of dead, oiled penguins have been found in remote areas. This is a reminder of what effects an oil spill (small or large) can have on wild populations.
IFAW and local authorities spent two months rehabilitating birds that had been rescued from an oiled beach in Patagonia, however the animals we successfully rehabilitated and released were just a fraction of the total amount of birds affected.
This week, while traveling surroundings of Argentina, Carla informed our team that she had spotted several times one of the penguins we released on February 9th from Southern Argentina. The attached image of a jovial, sunning penguin is the lucky guy I'm talking about. This individual is currently located about 200 miles south of where it was released, residing with a colony waiting to molt around the area of Cabo Dos Bahias.
Carla has been able to identify the penguin because of the band it is wearing. We banded all the penguins that were released from our rehabilitation center just for that reason, so that we are able to find them among penguin colonies that are routinely studied.
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This is such a sad incident! I'm glad there was one strong little guy in the bunch. Thank you for sharing the story.
Kristal Rosebrook
Posted by: Kristal L. Rosebrook | March 22, 2008 at 10:31 PM