Tara has her hands full at SANCCOB!

Hello all! Well as you can see I have my hands full with a beautiful African Penguin chick...this is just one, we actually have 96 of them which arrived at the weekend! The chicks were rescued from Dyer Island and brought to SANCCOB to be taken care of until they are old enough to be released back into the wild. Unfortunately the chick's parents have started to moult and therefore are no longer able to catch fish for their young, which if left would eventually starve to death! Due to the fact many of them are under-nourished we have the responsibility of feeding and tubing fluids into the young every two hours!
Today I went on my first release, just me, eight Penguins, a Comorant and Darter...it really makes all the guano and bites worth it as you see them back where they belong, although they all looked a bit bewildered by the whole experience and almost jumped back on the boat! Anyway as you can imagine I am having a fantastic experience out here in South Africa with only just over a week to go I will find it hard to say goodbye to this beautiful country with all its beautiful wildlife!