Flamingo chicks take flight
uShaka Sea World is indebted to all the many volunteers who have so generously given their time and energy caring for the young flamingos.
THE second and final batch of flamingos under the care of uShaka Sea World staff flew out of King Shaka International Airport on Tuesday, 14 May.
The 34 flamingos were unable to return to Kimberly when the first group of 78 left Durban on 10 April as they had not met their medical milestones.
Although all the flamingos have made significant progress over the past four weeks, it was decided not to fly them directly to Kamfers Dam. Instead they will go to the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria where they will remain until they are declared fit enough for release. At their final weigh-ins, the heaviest flamingo weighed 1.7kg while the smallest one weighed only 600g.
uShaka Sea World is indebted to the many volunteers who have so generously given their time and energy caring for the young flamingos. Some of our current volunteers started volunteering the day after the chicks arrived and only packed their gloves away as the flamingos were driven out of uShaka.
ALSO READ: Flamingo chicks find a home at uShaka
“It was a very emotional moment when I loaded the last flamingos onto the plane and knew that I was heading back to uShaka only to be greeted by an empty structure. It has been an honour and a privilege to have been able part of the rehabilitation of these young flamingos over the past three-and-a-half months and I am going to miss them an awful lot,” said Project Co-ordinator, Tracy Shaw.
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