Dogs Permitted Near Penguins Again…Following Tragic Loss of Birds

CAPE TOWN – The city of Cape Town has reopened a walkway near Boulders Beach to dogs after temporarily closing it following the death of 22 more penguins north of Seaforth Beach near Simon’s Town, although it says it will increase monitoring of the area.

Since the beginning of the year 42 endangered African penguins have been killed in total as a result of 10 dog-related incidents, according to a statement by the City of Cape Town.

“This is a substantial loss to the penguin breeding population in Simon’s Town. The situation cannot be allowed to continue,” said the statement.

It has been deduced that the most likely predator is one or more dogs, based on the observed incident patterns, field observations and the necropsy reports from the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) veterinarian.

Simonstown’s Boulders and Seaforth beaches are known worldwide for their colony of African penguins, and are a major tourist drawcard. This latest news also comes in a special month for the birds, because 17 October is African Penguin Awareness Day.

As of yesterday, Saturday 10 October, the main walkway skirting the penguin area – Burghers’ Walk – has been reopened to dogs but leashes are mandatory. A temporary ban had been in effect since 21 August.

Following the recent discovery of the 22 African penguins north of Seaforth Beach, the City of Cape Town has decided to increase its penguin protection measures – the number of monitors in the area will be increased from four to six, and camera traps have been installed along the entire route to monitor any attacks.

“The City is continually trying to find an appropriate balance between protecting the African penguin, while at the same time not over-regulating human recreation in the area. We therefore again urge members of the public to work with us. We need active participation and responsibility from every person who uses the area,” said Councillor Johan van der Merwe.

SANCCOB estimates that early in the 1900s there were 3 million African penguins in the wild. In 2004 there were 58,000 breeding pairs.

Today there are less than 19,000 breeding pairs of penguins in the world of which approximately 2,122 penguins are found in the Simon’s Town/ Boulders area (2011 count), of which 68 percent live inside the park.

In 2010 the African penguin species was uplisted to Endangered on the IUCN Red Data list as recent data has revealed that it is undergoing a rapid population decline, probably as a result of commercial fisheries and shifts in prey populations.