Penguins covered in oil
Here at GreenCupboards.com we want to explore how humans are making an effort to put the planet first. Not only do we see an increase in people making their everyday lives sustainable- but sometimes we run into a story that reaches beyond the daily grind.
Flashback to the year 2000. The African penguin population was at the height of its best breeding season in years, and had just recovered from an oil spill 6 years earlier during which 5,000 penguins had died. On June 23, 2000 an oil freighter called the Treasure sunk between the two main breeding islands spilling oil into the ocean and covering 40,000 penguins and their entire habitat in oil. Experts didn’t see much hope for these penguins.
Little did they know, 12.5 thousand volunteers were traveling from around the world to help in the rescue. Ninety percent of the 20,000 rescued penguins were able to be returned and thrive in the wild. Thousands more were relocated to cleaner waters temporarily until their habitat was able to be cleaned.
African penguins have recently been listed as an endangered species due to the effects that global warming and over fishing are having on our oceans. GreenCupboards.com wants to pass on this survival story in order to show an example of the power of human action.
Image: http://newsone.com/world/associatedpress2/oil-spill-south-atlantic-penguins/
