NATIONAL NEWS - The dramatic rescue of 1,000 Lesser flamingo chicks in January has finally reaped the desired rewards, with the scheduled release of the first batch of chicks, now rehabilitated, set to take place next week.
Tania and Mark Anderson of BirdLife South Africa have confirmed that the dam is currently very suitable for flamingos, with sufficient water levels and an abundance of blue-green algae. There are currently over 10,000 adults and 5,000 chicks or juveniles residing at the dam.
Infrastructure repairs to the Homevale sewage treatment plant are also set to be completed in early May, which will ensure that sewage inflow is constant. They also explained that if algae levels were to drop in late winter, as is often the case, the juvenile flamingos will be able to fly to other wetlands across southern Africa.
“They are not permanently dependent on Kamfers Dam, Lesser flamingos move very extensively in southern Africa,” they said in a post on the Save the Flamingo Facebook page.
Releasing the chicks has been a contentious issue among those involved in the rescue of the chicks, but experts agree that in order to give the chicks the best chance of being integrated with crèches of juveniles, they must be released as soon as possible, and must have as little human contact as possible.
