Meet Tenikwa’s Baby Shark
In Early March, an African Penguin was rushed to Robberg Vet by the Natures Valley Trust team after they found him on the beach with severe wounds from a predator attack. From the size and shape of injuries, shark bites were indicated. Thus, he became known as “Baby Shark”!
The little penguin was so resilient. He had his first operation on his back, stomach and his foot. He was then sent to Tenikwa Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre to recover. And even though the operation was a success, within a couple of days of being at Tenikwa, he started his natural moult. This annual process is crucial for maintaining their ability to stay warm and dry in the cold ocean waters where they spend much of their time. This meant that once his moult was over he needed to go back into surgery, where they were able to make sure all his new feathers were not affecting his healing process, and make sure his wounds were not affecting his feather growth as he needed to be insulated in order to survive out in the ocean.
Unfortunately, the injury to his foot had internal as well as external injuries. Once the external injuries healed, it became clear he had no sensation in part of his right foot. This made walking difficult as he was tripping over his own toes! The vet recommended that it would be best for Baby Shark to have two of his toes amputated so that he would be able to live the rest of his life in the wild without constantly tripping up. The date has been set for this operation and we will update you on his progress.
Unfortunately, Baby Shark missed the most recent penguin release when the team released 10 rehabilitated penguins at Lookout Beach. However, we are hoping he will be ready to join the next group scheduled to be released along with Buddy, Reese and Titch.
