Volunteer for the Penguin and Marine Bird Rescue Center

If you have the urge to work with animals and care to protect the penguins in South Africa, then Volunteering Solutions has the perfect program for you! The Penguin and Marine Bird Rescue Program aims at protecting and caring for the avian species who have been affected by the adverse effects of human behavior.

Volunteering Solutions, in association with a local South African organisation, focuses mainly on caring for sick or injured African Penguins (also known as Jackass Penguins) because of their vulnerability as well as other marine birds such as gannets, cormorants, and seagulls. As a volunteer, you’ll have to play an active role to rescue and rehabilitate, as well as to inform and educate the public through their different programs. The extensive displays at the centre give tourists, school groups, and other visitors the opportunity to learn about these endangered birds but also a wider variety of marine life in the beautiful and incredibly diverse Algoa Bay.

This program would be a perfect choice for animal lovers, who wish to make a difference through active contribution.

The project was established in Port Elizabeth in 2000 following the Treasure ship disaster that spilled oil near Cape Town, endangering 20,000 penguins. Despite being relocated, many penguins swam back 800 km to Cape Town within 11 days. This incident highlighted the vulnerability of the African Penguin and the need for facilities to address potential future threats to their largest breeding colony.

The focus of the project is to care for sick or injured African Penguins (also known as Jackass Penguins) because of their vulnerability as well as other marine birds such as gannets, cormorants, and seagulls. Their work is vital for the safety of the largest breeding colony of African Penguins in the world, which is situated on St Croix Island right in front of Port Elizabeth.

One of the main causes of the decline in the numbers of African penguins is that the cold currents in which penguins find their food have been pushed further out to sea due to climate change. This results in them having to swim almost 60 kilometers away from their burrows on St Croix and by the time they get back to feed their babies much of the food has been digested. This results in the young chicks not being fed properly and therefore taking much longer to fledge and become independent. When the chicks are left to fend for themselves, not knowing how to catch their own meal, they slowly weaken and wash up on our beaches.

This is the only center in Port Elizabeth that has the capacity to collect washed up penguins sick, hurt or exhausted and to treat any diseases they may have, give them a vitamin boost, fatten them up and release them into the bay again.

The centre’s secondary function is to inform and educate the public. The extensive displays at the centre give tourists, school groups and other visitors the opportunity to learn about these endangered birds but also a wider variety of marine life in the beautiful and incredibly diverse Algoa Bay.

At the project your work will be supervised by one of the staff members who will allocate daily tasks and activities to you. They will also be the people to report to in the mornings and sign out before you leave again at the end of the day.

Want to see other ways to make an impact? Check out our Volunteer in Africa programs.

Volunteer Roles & Responsibilities

Being a part of this project, you’ll be playing an active role in carrying out the following:

General Duties

• Welcoming visitors

• Answering the phone and office duties (filing, taking, and delivering phone messages, printing, copy work, receiving deliveries, data capturing, stocktake, postage, communication with suppliers etc.)

• Attending to “Bird Calls” (phone calls relating to birds in need of rescue)

• Assisting with emails

• Guiding visitors and school groups through the center

• Helping at the coffee shop when needed

• Centre maintenance duties

• Fundraising

• Capture visitor’s data into database

• Filing

• Thank you letters to donors

• Tracking donations from donors

• Assisting in creating Penguin adoption packs

• Assist with tin collection program

Sea school

• Teaching the visiting children about the center

• Helping with rock pool and shipwreck lessons

• Looking after displays and educational material

Bird hospital

• Maintaining a high standard of hygiene and cleanliness in the rehabilitation centre.

• Scrubbing and cleaning the bird hospital facilities

• Washing and drying of laundry

• Cleaning equipment used in food preparation and feeding

• Defrosting and preparing fish for a variety of seabird species.

• Preparing and administering medication to different bird species.

• Feeding the penguins and other birds (force feeding and free feeding) 

• Hydrating (tubing) different bird species

• Assisting in maintaining the permanent bird exhibit (scrubbing rocks, raking sand and
  food preparation)

• Cleaning and caring for the birds that are brought in

• Catching and handling of different bird species

• Assisting with bird release preparation

• Joining the staff (when possible) at rescues in the Port Elizabeth area
   

Requirements & eligibility

Participation in this program requires a minimum time commitment of 4 weeks. Volunteers must be 18 years or older at the time of joining the project. Participants should have an open mind and flexible attitude for working outdoors and should have a keen interest and love for animals. Volunteers joining this program should be physically fit and comfortable working outdoors and getting their hands dirty. The participant should be compassionate and of a caring nature with a love for seabirds. Participants in the program need to be up to date with their Tetanus vaccination prior to joining the program.