WATCH | 200 penguins rushed to safety after fire threatened Bay sanctuary


Close to 200 penguins and other coastal birds were rushed to safety after a devastating fire threatened their sanctuary at Cape Recife in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
The fire also forced the evacuation of a nearby beachfront resort and Nelson Mandela University’s south campus.
For most of the day large parts of Port Elizabeth were covered in a thick blanket of smoke as the veld fire ravaged a more than 5km stretch on both sides of Marine Drive.
Smoke hung heavily in the air as panicked employees from the SA Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds hurriedly packed the penguins in boxes.
The centre’s manager, Stacey Webb, said the birds would spend Wednesday in the safety of her home.
Nina Voogt, a veterinary nurse, said: “We were alerted that the fire was worsening and that we needed to start evacuating for safety reasons so we’ve been prepping boxes since we saw the fire this morning.
“We loaded all of our birds, including our ICU penguins [and] all of our other birds in the centre, and we’re taking them to a second location where they’ll be safe from the fire,” she said.
“It’s just as a precautionary measure because we don’t want human or bird fatalities – so we’d rather just evacuate.”
Voogt said about 80 of the more than 160 penguins were in rehabilitation and going through the hospitalisation process.
Other species of birds were also removed from the centre.
Webb said the sick penguins would be kept in her garage for the night.
“They’re in my house – it was the next-best solution,” she said on Wednesday evening. “There are about 160 of them and right now we’re trying to make them comfortable for the night and putting them together in groups.
“The firefighters are busy wetting the centre’s roof so that we’ll be able to move the birds back [on Thursday morning], but this is nature we’re talking about.
“You never know, things might change and the wind could pick up again [on Wednesday night].
“The very sick birds, those in intensive care, are being kept in the garage and the others that can be outside are out in my garden,” Webb said.
The nearby Pine Lodge beachfront resort and Nelson Mandela University’s south campus were also evacuated.
University spokesperson Zandile Mbalela said earlier: “Nelson Mandela University staff and students have been evacuated out of the south campus as a precautionary measure, as a veld fire that broke out adjacent to the university has spread onto the nature reserve.
“Strong winds have exacerbated the situation and caused the fire to move rapidly, resulting in heavy smoke cover over the campus.
“Municipal firefighters and emergency personnel, working with a university team, are working hard to contain the fire that broke out in the vicinity of the Noordhoek Ski Boat Club, near the university.
“The situation is being closely monitored and further updates will be shared in due course.”
Nelson Mandela Bay municipality spokesperson Kupido Baron lauded the firefighters for their efforts in containing the blaze.
“We [have] secured Nelson Mandela University and our brave men and women will form a defensive line in an attempt to prevent damage to property. Our thoughts and prayers are with them,” he said.

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