A High River woman is heading to South Africa next year to take part in saving some endangered penguins.

Nicole Fernell says she's all about the penguins.

"Love penguins! Absolutely passionate about them. I've had penguin themed birthday parties. I've gone to the Penguin Experience in Edmonton where I got to hold them and feed them. And now I'm going to do my part and help the endangered species."

She'll be in Cape Town for six weeks next March and April volunteering at the Seabird Rehabilitation Centre.

She'll says they'll be keeping her pretty busy.

"They'll bring them in off the beach and what we do is we'll take care of them from there. So, we'll learn how to catch and handle penguins. How to feed them, medicate them etc, and get them all cleaned up and then my program will also include a release back into the wild once some penguins are all better."

She's doing some fundraising between now and then.

Nicole says she's looking to raise about 35-hundred bucks for her trip and has launched a Facebook page, @NicolesPenguinRescue, to help her do that.

In a release she says: I will be pairing up with a couple local artisans to create some amazing “Save the Penguin” themed gifts in which my volunteer efforts will be benefited from with receiving a portion of the sales. I have also created a GoFundMe Page (Nicole's Penguin Rescue) if anybody would graciously like to donate a few dollars to help me reach my goal.

The primary object of this Centre is to reverse the decline of seabird populations through rescue, rehabilitation and release of ill, injured, abandoned and oiled seabirds, particularly, endangered South African penguins.

In a typical year, the dedicated team can treat up to 2500 seabirds, of which 1500 of them are African Penguins.

Despite their highly dedicated team, the centre relies heavily on the support of volunteers like me to be able to handle the large numbers of seabirds that arrive daily.

I will be fortunate to spend five days a week working full days to help rehabilitate these amazing creatures.

 

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