Picture by Jean Marie van Gent:- The juvenile African Penguin made its way ashore at Platbank, not realising it is a beach frequently visited by dogs.

On 31 January 2025 a juvenile African penguin, seemingly stranded on the beach at Platbank, was rescued by the Dunefields Private Nature Reserve managerial team. It turns out that it was a micro-chipped bird from Algoa Bay.

Doctors Tiaan and Zanri Strydom are the managers of Dunefields, located west of Sedgefield. They have been working in seabird rehabilitation since 2015, and with a doctoral degree in Cape gannets, Zanri has a great passion for helping the birds. To this end, Dunefields Private Nature Reserve now includes a purpose-built stabilisation station that can cater for an array of different species.
“We work under permit to stabilise seabirds, which means that we provide emergency care before the animal gets sent to the Seabird and Penguin Rehabilitation Centre in Mossel Bay” says Zanri.

She and husband Dr Tiaan Strydom spent the last few hours of January locating and catching this stranded penguin. It had been reported by Stacy Vermeulen and Heinrich Lombard who, after discovering the stranded bird, had spent a good while searching for cell-phone signal along the beach so that they could make the call.

As soon as they were notified, the two Dunefields doctors rushed to Platbank and, equipped with a torch and a towel Dr Tiaan finally managed to catch the penguin, no mean feat considering it was well into the night.

They explained that they believe the bird had instinctively made its way from the sea onto the shore because it was ready to moult, but had unfortunately chosen the wrong beach.

“Platbank is unsafe for penguins because dogs visit there so regularly,” explained Dr Zanri, “Hence our decision to remove the bird and take it to a place of safety.”

Moulting occurs to ensure that the bird stays waterproofed. During this process it will shed all its juvenile feathers and get clothed in the black-and-white tuxedo look that is typical of an adult penguin.

“This can take up to three weeks during which time they are not waterproof, and subsequently cannot go into the water to escape any danger on the beach,” says Dr Zanri.

While stabilising the penguin at Dunefields, the doctors weighed it and scanned its body with a transponder reader – the same sort of machine that micro-chipped pets are scanned with.

“When we heard the transponder ‘beeping’ we were very excited” says Zanri, “Because this meant the bird had a micro-chip!” Submitting the number of the chip into the database, they learned that the Platbank penguin was about two years old, and that it had originally hatched on Bird Island in Algoa Bay.

She is happy to report that the penguin is doing very well in rehabilitation in Mossel Bay, and can be visited, though by appointment only (Carol Walton 082 364 3382).

Once moulted, it will be released back into the ocean to reunite with its other penguin friends.

We are very fortunate to have local people dedicated to seabird conservation, especially to the critically endangered African penguins. Dunefields is the local emergency care unit covering the coastline from George to the Buffalo Bay area.

“Don’t ever hesitate to contact us about a seabird in need on the beach, we are happy to help,” Dr Zanri says.

Dr Zanri Strydom 072 885 5998;
Dr Tiaan Strydom 061 495 2784