African (Jackass) penguins are endemic to southern Africa and live in colonies along the coast.  SANCCOB (Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) had to deal with thousands of oiled penguins affected by the oil leak from the fuel tanks of a tanker which sank off Melkbosstrand on 23 June 2000.  Our Grade 4s were inspired to write these stories as a result. Grade 5 has published information they researched on the African Penguin which is most interesting.

Pamela's journey home


Pamela
 Hi I am Pam.  I've got three chicks and they're very cute!  The sea was nice and clean until one day there was an oil slick.  The sea was black and yellow, Yuck!  I had to go fishing because I was hungry and so were my chicks.  Before the oil slick I had seen a huge boat pass my island, it had the words "The Treasure" written on it.  I thought it was the boat that caused the slick.  It didn't seem like a treasure, it spoiled my life!
Soon after the oil spill some people came to rescue me.  They put me in a cardboard box which was very uncomfortable.  Then they took me to the city to SANCCOB.  A tracking device was put on my back, thankfully it wasn't too heavy.  They put me, and two other penguins with tracking devices, on a cattle truck with thousands of penguins and drove us to Port Elizabeth.  I chatted to two other penguins and they said that their names were Peter and Percy.  They were very friendly to me.  When we got to Port Elizabeth some people set us free in the sea, hoping that the nasty oil would have gone from the Cape's waters when we arrived home.

Peter

Although I had no clue where I was I certainly knew that the water here was much cleaner that the Cape's waters!  I spent a lot of time with Peter and Percy until we split up to go our separate ways.  It was a very long hard journey.  To be exact it was an 800km journey.  It took me a long time to reach my home, Dassen Island.  When I got back to Dassen Island the sea was not totally clean but it was much better than before.

Percy
It was nice to be home again.  I saw my chicks and all my penguin friends.  I ran to my chicks and I told them that I would never leave them again and that I loved them.  The backpack was starting to get on my nerves and I couldn't wait until SANCCOB found me so that they could take it off.  At last SANCCOB came, I was very happy because I knew  that they would take photos of me and it would go into something called the newspaper.  I was quite content to know that I was famous.

Written by Pascale and Tamsyn

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