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The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) is an international body dedicated to seabird rehabilitation. The only seabird rehabilitation organisation registered with the South African Veterinary Council, the non-profit centre is based at the Rietvlei Wetland Reserve in
The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) is an international body dedicated to seabird rehabilitation. The only seabird rehabilitation organisation registered with the South African Veterinary Council, the non-profit centre is based at the Rietvlei Wetland Reserve in Table View
Table View is a West Coast suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, named after its view of Table Mountain. It has expanded rapidly since the 1970s and has extensions such as Flamingo Vlei, Sunridge, West Riding, Parklands, and Killarney. Table View h ...
, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
.
SANCCOB conserves and protect South Africa's sea birds, especially threatened species, for the benefit of present and future generations.
The organization was founded in November 1968 in response to an increase in oiling of penguins on South African coasts, connected to higher tanker traffic following the closure of the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
after the Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
. It admitted between 200 and 2,000 birds per year during 1969–1993, almost all of which were African penguin
The African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus''), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin, is a species of penguin confined to southern African waters. Like all extant penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiff ...
s. Since 1983, SANCCOB has handled more than 35,000 oiled penguins. The vast majority of these penguins were oiled in the '' Apollo Sea'' spill (1994) and the ''Treasure'' spill (2000). As the latter event also necessitated the precautionary evacuation of 19,500 un-oiled birds, almost a quarter of the global population was handled at that time. From 1990 to 2005, an average of 750 oiled penguins have been admitted annually from oiling events other than these two spills. In total, SANCCOB has handled over 85,000 seabirds since its inception.
A modeling exercise by the University of Cape Town's Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology
The FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology is a South African biological research and conservation institute based at the University of Cape Town. The mission statement of the institute is ''“to promote and undertake scientific studies in ...
found that rehabilitating oiled African penguins has resulted in the current population being 19 percent larger than it would have been in the absence of SANCCOB's rehabilitation efforts.
Activities
* Rehabilitate ill, injured, oiled, and orphaned sea birds, * Manage the rehabilitation of seabirds during major oil spills, * Raise awareness about conservation through environmental education, * Collaborate on research projects.External links
* *References
{{Authority control 1968 establishments in South Africa Environmental organisations based in South Africa Organizations established in 1968 Bird conservation organizations Seabirds Wildlife rehabilitation Animal welfare organisations based in South Africa