The African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary (APSS) opened its doors in February 2015, a vision that took flight from the pages of Wilfred Chivell’s little black notebook. As the founder of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, he dreamt of a facility that could rehabilitate endangered seabirds. What began as a drawing of single container with a porta pool grew [...]
World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is celebrated in May and October to celebrate the cyclic nature of bird migration in the different hemispheres. The theme for this year WMBD is the importance of insects for migratory birds. Our dwindling insect populations are impacting migratory birds. At the Dyer Island Conservation Trust we deal mainly with shore and seabirds and the marine [...]
25 April is “celebrated” as World Penguin Day, a day to raise awareness about penguins. Sadly, for the African penguin if we do not act now, we will in future be commemorating the day. The African penguin population is crashing. On Dyer Island the numbers dropped from 36 000 pairs in 1976 to 903 pairs in 2023. The South African population [...]
Thanks to a grant from the Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) that allows us to deploy a specialised seabird ranger on Dyer Island, the African penguins and other seabirds on Dyer Island now have an extra pair of eyes to watch over them. DCF grant recipients are selected based on their efforts to implement comprehensive community wildlife conservation programs, stabilise, and increase [...]
The African penguin is on the brink of possible extinction in the wild within the next decade. Partnerships are vital in the ongoing effort to stabilise the African penguin population numbers. This is one of the reasons that African penguins are at the heart of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that exists between CapeNature, the custodian of the Western Cape’s natural [...]
“When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they do get worse, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they must get better.” Quote adjusted from original quote by Malcom Forbes There is an outbreak of Avian Influenza amongst seabirds in the Western Cape. A disaster [...]
It is our birthday, like all six year olds we would be delighted to receive some gifts. Waddle back through time with us to understand why every penguin counts Don’t follow your dreams, chase them The project started on the pages of the little black notebook bearing the dreams of Wilfred Chivell, the founder of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust. It [...]
We are all entering the year 2021 with a large amount of apprehension and anxiety. To counter these “symptoms” the African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary (APSS) issued a perky penguin prescription filled with a good dose of joy and hope on the first day of 2021. Fourteen African penguin fledglings and four adult penguins were returned to the wild after spending [...]
Celebrate with us. There is a reason the March for the Penguins, held annually at the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary, occurs on the 21st December. This date just happens to be the birthday of Dyer Island Conservation Trust founder, Wilfred Chivell. In the new virtual world you can take part in the March for the Penguins on any day [...]
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.” ― Douglas Adams, We think we can now definitely confirm that the second [...]
