Sign a Petition to Help Protect 50,000 Flamingos in South Africa

Readers can view breeding flamingos and then complete the petition and bring some real pressure to bear to save flamingos in the world’s latest breeding colony.

The colony is to be found on an artificial island in Kamfers Dam situated just north of Kimberly, South Africa. The abundant blue-green algae and diatoms in the dam maintain a population of 20,000 Lesser Flamingos. This number occassionally swells to 60,000 as birds move from site to site in Africa.

In the summer of 2007/8 almost two thousand pairs of Lesser Flamingo bred on the island, producing an estimated 9,000 chicks. This made it the first breeding colony in South Africa and one of only 6 in the world. This colony has the potential to reverse the recent negative population trend resulting from problems in other breeding colonies.

The dam and surrounding 380 ha wetland area is designated as a conservation zone but is threatened by pollution from a poorly maintained and operated sewage treatment plant and planned nearby property development.

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Concerned individuals, companies and organisations from the area have set up the Save The Flamingo Association, a not for profit association, that works to reverse the situation through monitoring, analysis, publicity and litigation. They have established a website that uses a webcam (unfortunately not always reliable but being attended to) to provide views on the island and they ask visitors to sign a petition.

From the petition:

” Urgently requesting that the Sol Plaatje Municipality, which is legally responsible for managing Kimberley’s infrastructure and services as well as ecologically justifiable and sustainable urban development, take urgent action now to remove the threats to Kamfers Dam’s Lesser Flamingos. “

Please sign the petition and protect the flamingos.

Photo credit: by Lip Kee at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

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