Rennen gegen die Zeit...Oilspill threatens 20,000 rare rockhopper Penguins

20.000 Pinguine durch Ölpest im Atlantik bedroht

Rund 20.000 seltene Felsenpinguine sind durch eine Ölpest im Atlantik bedroht. Es laufe ein "Rennen gegen die Zeit", die Tiere zu retten, teilten die Behörden der knapp 3000 Kilometer westlich der südafrikanischen Küste gelegenen Inselgruppe Tristan da Cunha mit. 500 Felsenpinguine seien an den Stränden des entlegenen Archipels eingesammelt und in eine Tierstation auf die Hauptinsel gebracht worden. Dort sollen sie vom Öl befreit werden, das nach dem Kentern eines Frachtschiffs am Dienstag vor einer Woche ins Meer gelaufen war.

Allerdings geht den Pinguin-Rettern inzwischen das dringend benötigte Reinigungsmaterial für die Tiere aus, obwohl dieses erst am Montag per Schiff geliefert wurde. Ein zweites Schiff mit Nachschub könnte den Behörden zufolge zwar demnächst in Kapstadt ablegen. Die Fahrt dauert aber mehrere Tage.

Tristan da Cunha ist nach Behördenangaben die abgelegenste bewohnte Insel der Welt. Sie gehört zu einem britischen Überseegebiet und wird von etwa 260 Menschen bewohnt. Dort gibt es weder einen Flughafen, noch Hotels oder Restaurants.

That's how they should look...!

Photos: Andrew Evans

"Oil patches cover a northern rockhopper penguin on March 23, a week after a cargo vessel slammed into Nightingale Island in the South Atlantic, initiating a roughly 1,500-ton of fuel-oil spill, according to the U.K.-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The island, part of the British territory of Tristan da Cunha , is home to 200,000 northern rockhopper penguins, half the world's population. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the bird as endangered, due to its mysteriously rapid decline in the past three decades.

On March 18, two days after it had run aground, the Malta-registered "M.S. Oliva broke her back in the force of a relentless swell," leaking oil that spread into an 8-mile (13-kilometer) slick, according to the bird-protection group and the Tristan da Cunha government's website. However the slick seemed to have mostly dissipated by March 23.

Some 65,300 tons of unprocessed soybeans also spilled from into the ocean, and the vegetables' impact to the sensitive marine environment are unknown, the government's website said.

Hundreds of oiled birds are washing ashore, and a preliminary estimate suggests up to 20,000 birds may have been affected, according to the government's website.

"The scene at Nightingale is dreadful," Trevor Glass, the conservation officer for the territory, said in a statement.

The "grave environmental disaster" may also reach ecosystems of the nearby Inaccessible and Gough islands, both UN World Heritage sites, according to the government's website."

Additional note: The rescue teams need urgently more cleaning material, due to the remoteness of the island it takes several days until a second vessel will be there from Capetown...It is simply heartbreaking, especially when you have already seen wild life photos of people who have either the privilege to work there or who have visited the islands by sailing boat....

Sources:
- 20000 Pinguine durch Ölpest bedroht/ tagesschau 24.03.2011
- Oiled penguin on Nightingale Island/ National Geographic 25.03.2011 (incl.more pics of Andrew Evans)
- Tristan da Cunha- The loneliest island on Earth/April 2009 (incl. chart source)

Photo credits: Tagesschau(1), Andrew Evans (3,4,5)

Related:
- Pictures of birds after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill
- Wo ist bloß Gough Island -Where the heck is Gough Island/ Rodrigues via Mauritius 28.01.2009