Senior Zoologist Dana I. and Assistant Bird Supervisor Nathan C. guest blog on ZooHoo!
We arrived in Kimberley, South Africa on Tuesday, March 12, after a long journey from Dallas. We were greeted by our fellow AZA colleague, who’s been taking care of the flamingo chicks for the last few weeks. We were immediately taken to the Kimberley SPCA, where the chicks are being cared for, to jump in and quickly learn the ropes. The SPCA has the youngest of the 1,800 chicks rescued from the Kamfers Dam. All of the chicks are doing well!
The first group of older chicks were brought in from the initial rescue. This group is already feeding themselves and, because of the specially formulated food they’ve been eating, they are starting to turn a bright pink/red a little bit earlier than normal. We are continuing to weigh these chicks every few days to make sure that they are continuing to gain weight and are staying healthy.
The second set of chicks came from a later trip to the Kamfers Dam. After the initial rescue, dogs disturbed the flamingo colony remaining at the dam and caused more flamingos to abandon their nests. Volunteers went in and collected the abandoned eggs, and now there is a group of 18 chicks. These chicks are still being hand-fed three times a day at 8 a.m., 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. Every morning the chicks are weighed so we can determine how much food to feed them for the day. We also make sure the little chicks get plenty of time outside for some all-important sunshine and exercise.
On Thursday we got a chance to go out to Kamfers Dam and see the flamingos that are still there. There is still a large colony of adults raising an estimated 5,000 chicks. They are being monitored but continue to do well.
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