At the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, we carry out essential services, so the welfare of our seabird patients remains our priority while we face the global fight against the corona virus.

At present, we are at the peak of our annual egg season at SANCCOB and that means eggs hatching almost daily and more mouths to feed. Our Table View centre has admitted 300 abandoned African penguin eggs since January and all but 40 are still being incubated and yet to hatch in the next few weeks. Considering that most of the eggs were abandoned, we are pleased with the number of eggs that were still viable and successfully hatched. We currently have 120 chicks varying from tiny hatchlings to over 1.3kg being hand-reared in our Chick Rearing Unit and Nursery areas.

Did you know that you can ADOPT AN EGG at ZAR300 / $21.96 and support its incubation?
By adopting an African penguin egg you will contribute toward its incubation until ready to hatch, bringing a tiny chick into the world. Once hatched, we will hand-rear for three to four months until waterproof and strong enough to be released back to the wild population; the core objective of our Chick Bolstering Project. You can’t name it as a Penguin Adoption but you will definitely feel proud to play your part in conserving the endangered African penguin species.

This egg adoption initiative is automated, which means you will receive your certificate of adoption online, making it also an ideal virtual gift option for someone dear. This might just be the perfect gift at a time when we cannot be close to our loved ones and stories of hope are needed to lift our spirits. Many who celebrate Easter all around the world will delight in this gift choice.

Adopt an Egg and count on us to do our part to keep it incubated and monitored until a tiny chick emerges.

It’s been recorded that the South African population of the African penguin has declined by around 5,000 breeding pairs since 2012 and our interventions are needed more than ever.
With the support of our Penguin and Seabird Rangers on the ground at the penguin colonies, we are able to closely monitor nests and quickly rescue eggs. Eggs are rescued when in unsafe nesting areas and when excessive heat causes heat stress in the parent birds resulting in the abandonment of the eggs.

The daily monitoring by Rangers is enabled by successful partnerships with the Environmental Management Department of the City of Cape Town’s Spatial Planning and Environment Directorate, CapeNature, South African National Parks (SANParks), Robben Island Museum and the Cape Town Environmental Education Trust (CTEET). We are proud to share that SANCCOB’s 2019 release rate of hand-reared African penguin chicks was at an incredible 87% and it’s all made possible by the support we receive and we thank you.