We have commenced building of a new state-of-the-art rehabilitation pool with six associated pens for seabird patients at our Port Elizabeth centre in the Eastern Cape.

The new structure will provide a more efficient space for birds and day to day operations, and accommodate an improved flow of seabirds undergoing rehabilitation. For over 50 years we have rescued, rehabilitated oiled, injured, sick or abandoned seabirds and released them back to the wild where they belong.

Support our Build-A-Pool fundraising initiative to help us raise the funds needed.

With your support we can ensure that our Port Elizabeth (PE) centre has the most suitable amenities to rehabilitate seabird species admitted from South Africa’s east coast; mostly rescued from St Croix and Bird islands, where the largest populations of endangered African penguins and Cape gannets are found in the country.

An important step in the rehabilitation process of seabirds is sufficient access to water to swim. Swimming strengthens the birds and is a critical step for the waterproofing of their plumage. The six pens will each have its own access gate to the pool, which will enable rehabilitators to separate the seabirds based on their stage in the rehabilitation process.

If you donate today then you will be a partner in our lifesaving conservation work to reverse the decline of Southern African seabirds. Their future is in our hands!

At present, there is only one temporary rehabilitation pool and pen at our PE facility and two home pens, each with pools for resident African penguins and other seabirds deemed unfit for release. The brand new dedicated pool and pens will result in a better rehabilitation process, increased capacity to comfortably house more seabirds, and also make daily operational tasks easier for the staff and volunteers. There will be filtration for the pool to keep the water clean and reduce water consumption, roof to shelter seabird patients and drains for easy cleaning.

The large number of oiled seabirds admitted in July 2019 reiterated that the new structure is very necessary. With more than half of the global population of African penguins facing threats such as oil spill events, disease and lack of fish, SANCCOB is pulling out all the stops to make sure it continues to provide a place of healing and rehabilitation with specialist veterinary care to save seabirds in distress.

SANCCOB’s Build-A-Pool initiative was launched to supplement funding and is an opportunity for members of the public, corporates, trusts and foundations, and companies to donate and partner with us to complete the project.

The total cost of the project is just under R1.7million and seed funding of R770,000.00 from the National Lotteries Commission kick-started the construction and the building work is progressing well.

*A donor board will be erected at the new structure to publicly acknowledge donations of R10,000.00 and more. Contact Hedwich@sanccob.co.za to find out more.