WILDLIFE CARNAGE
Jogger finds mutilated penguins on Simon’s Town’s Seaforth Beach after dog attack
It was a horror scene — dead and dying penguins being savaged by two husky-type dogs intent on killing, with no owner in sight to restrain them.
The jogger, not named for legal reasons, tried to stop the dogs and they ran off. He tried to follow them but lost their trail. When he went back to the beach to see what he could do for the penguins that were injured, he found the dogs were back once again attacking the birds.
The two dogs responsible for the attack. (Photo: Cape of Good Hope SPCA)
He chased them and followed, this time establishing where they lived. He then reported the matter to the City of Cape Town which called the SPCA.
Upon further investigation, the authorities found the beach covered in dog footprints and many dead and dying birds with bite marks. The dogs were impounded in terms of the City’s Animal Keeping by-law and the owner will be charged.
Capetalk reported that 19 penguins had been killed.
The attack follows mounting concern about African penguins. In August, marine scientist Lorien Pichegru appealed to the government to ban sardine and anchovy fishing close to the six penguin colonies (West Coast, False Bay and Algoa Bay) as their populations were plummeting.
African penguins. (Photo: Pixabay)
The penguins were found with bite marks. (Photo: Cape of Good Hope SPCA)
Damning evidence – footprints among the dead birds. (Photo: Cape of Good Hope SPCA)
Environment Minister Barbara Creecy’s department proposed this a year ago based on a combination of GPS tracking of the penguins’ foraging grounds collected over 10 years. The proposal was aimed at maximising protection for the penguins while minimising impacts on the fisheries.
Read more in Daily Maverick: “Restrictions placed on commercial fishing close to endangered African penguin colonies”
However, this year all closures for the fishing industry were lifted because the industry objected to the proposal. As a result, there is now no protection whatsoever for the penguins.
Then, in September, it was discovered that the Boulders Beach penguin colony in Cape Town, consisting of about 1,000 breeding pairs, had been hit by the highly infectious H5N1 avian flu. At least 10 had died and the flu was spreading.
“Avian influenza is a highly contagious viral disease, almost always fatal,” said Dr David Roberts, clinical veterinarian for the avian coastal conservation foundation Sanccob, who assessed the colony at the time.
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“African penguins are endangered and, from a conservation point of view, it’s very scary.”
The owner and not the dogs will be held responsible, says the SPCA. (Photo: Cape of Good Hope SPCA)
The number of African penguins is now at the lowest number yet recorded in South Africa. Until recently, the colony on St Croix Island in Algoa Bay was the largest in the world, with 8,500 pairs out of a total of 12,000 pairs in Algoa Bay, including Bird Island and some of the smaller islands.
This amounted to 50% of the world’s African penguins. Over the past six years, however, the St Croix population has plummeted by 85% — down to 1,200 pairs.
Read more in Daily Maverick: “Dwindling African penguin colonies — what needs to happen to restore the balance”
Over the past few years, the penguin population in Algoa Bay has also been affected by four oil spills, beginning in 2016 — the last one in early May 2022 — caused by the recent set-up of ship-to-ship bunkering operations in the bay.
The Simon’s Town dog attack has now reduced the number of African penguins, an endangered species, even further.
Seaforth Beach is a prominent nesting site for about 150 penguins and is on the border of Boulders Beach — a world-famous African penguin breeding colony.
There are several signs at the beach and in the parking lot warning visitors that off-leash dogs are not allowed.
“The SPCA will ensure that justice is served for these penguins who suffered a traumatic death because of irresponsible dog owners,” said SPCA chief inspector Jaco Pieterse.
“We don’t believe that the dogs are to blame, but will hold their irresponsible owners accountable.” DM/OBP
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The dogs should be put down: this hunting and killing instinct isn’t going to go away. And the owners should be charged for every penguin. It’s sad to see how people allow their dogs to chase plovers: they’ll probably slowly disappear too.
Sadly, I must agree. Ask any sheep farmer what happens to a dog (any dog, even his/her own do) that attacks sheep. It might be the owner’s “fault”, but these dogs probably cannot be rehabilitated, and nobody is going to take on the responsibilty to try.
Or, instead of killing the dogs (more dead animals hardly the answer!), they could be rehomed with an owner who keeps them locked in securely, exercises them on leash regularly and takes care not to let them run around freely and illegally. There are so many more answers than killing the dogs. The owners on the other hand should be severely punished for every penguin, on that I agree.
Put them down, fine the owner R50,000 each.
Putting the dogs down won’t bring the penguins back.
The penguins are just as vulnerable to attacks from mongoose and other predators.
As the penguin colony at boulders has grown penguins have moved to Seaforth because of spatial constraints moves need to be made to protect them as was done after they moved to boulders in the late 1980’s calls to put the dogs down are knee jerk reactions that do not address the problem.
Nonsense. Mongooses (that is the correct plural) and other wild predators may opportunisticaley take one bird or egg, and eat it. Dogs, however, once they have killed in this fashion (19 birds between two dogs) cannot easily be rehabilitated. So, what is to be done with the dogs to prevent a repeat? If they are returned to their owner, and escape again, the same thing is likely to happen again.