Landau, 06th of February 2025
C H I L E
+++Research on the island of Cachagua, Chile+++
From 30 November to 8 December 2024, the radius of action and diving behaviour of breeding Humboldt penguins were studied using GPS dive data loggers on the island of Cachagua, Chile. The work planned for this breeding period on the island of Choros (Humboldt Penguin National Reserve) had to be postponed due to the lack of breeding birds (see ‘Preliminary report on ...’ on these pages).
+++Knowledgement of Karen Quezada+++
At the end of December, Karen Quezada S. surprisingly resigned from Sphenisco as she was facing major professional challenges in 2025. The employee also felt that her professional development was stagnating and that Sphenisco's projects were no longer sufficiently aligned with her personal goals and life expectations.
Karen worked for Sphenisco from 2020 to 2024. Her main areas of work were:
- The supervision, development and coordination of sustainable tourism projects such as the info points of Yerba Buena and Caleta Los Hornos as well as the support of the association ‘Turismo Chungungo Azul’.
- She was responsible for and supervised the programme of the ‘Videopodcast Sintonia Humboldt’. Among other things, she liaised with interview partners and coordinated the content with the presenters.
- The literature competition. In this project, she was responsible for collecting the short stories, organising and supervising the jury, announcing the winners and awarding the prizes.
- Determining the costs for the renovation and operation of the planned rescue centre for injured marine animals in Coquimbo.
On leaving, Karen thanked Gabriele and Werner Knauf, and above all Nancy Duman, for the trust they had placed in her. She happily agreed to continue advising Sphenisco Chile on certain issues and to support the development of the Fundación.
The Board would like to thank Karen for her reliable and dedicated work and her willingness to continue supporting Sphenisco Chile.
+++New employee+++
Following the departure of Karen Quezada, Nancy Duman proposes to hire Valeria Canto with a full-time position at Sphenisco Chile as of 1 February 2025. Señora Canto has been working as a technical advisor and spokesperson for a programme to restore sustainable land management since October. She has a thorough academic education (pedagogy and environmental education) as well as numerous relevant training courses, including environmental impact assessments. She has extensive experience of working for numerous institutions and in a wide range of projects.
+++‘Dominga’ rejected again - relief and escalation of violence+++
At the beginning of January, the Chilean Council of Ministers unanimously decided at an extraordinary meeting to give the ‘Dominga’ mining and port project another unfavourable assessment. The renewed rejection was greeted with relief by representatives of artisanal fishing, tourism, agriculture and civil society. One day later, the parliamentary environment committee wanted to hear supporters and critics of the Dominga project on site in Coquimbo. The meeting could not be held properly as members of the Fadechi trade union first protested loudly and then turned violent (see ‘Dominga’ rejected again ... on these pages).
+++Video podcast ‘Sintonía Humboldt ’+++
The 2nd season of the weekly video podcast ‘Sintonía Humboldt’, which is sponsored by Bergzoo Halle and Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen, Netherlands, has been running since 12th of August. There were no broadcasts in December and January. The video podcast will continue in March, after the Chilean summer holidays.
+++Documentary ‘on site - species conservation and zoological gardens ’+++
In December, interviews were recorded with the researchers Dr Ursula Ellenberg and Dr Guillermo Luna in La Serena, Chile. In the interviews, the researchers described the status of research into the population, breeding success and foraging and provided information on the current population development of the Humboldt penguins. At the beginning of January, Señora Milagros from Acorema in Peru also produced two videos for the documentary, one on research into breeding success on the Ballestas Islands and one on environmental education. At the end of January, passages for the planned film were filmed with Nancy Duman (Sphenisco Chile) and Dr Matthias Reinschmidt (Karlsruhe Zoo) at Karlsruhe Zoo. Using the example of the Humboldt penguins, the two protagonists explored the question of whether and how zoological gardens support environmental education, public relations and research on site.
The next step will be an interview via Zoom with the researcher Dr Alejandro Simeone in German and Spanish. Then the long and arduous post-production process begins.
The date for the premiere is still open.
P E R U
+++Environmental education+++
Since 2010, Acorema has been organising environmental education on behalf of Sphenisco in the province of Ica and now also in parts of the province of Lima. In the last two years, the project ‘Creating and strengthening spaces for the conservation of the Humboldt penguin on the central coast of Peru’ has been realised. At the end of December, Señora Milagros and her team completed the agreed measures. She plans to present a report shortly.
Acorema is seamlessly continuing its educational work with a new programme entitled ‘Strengthening measures to protect the Humboldt penguin on the central coast of Peru’. The new project will be realised from February 2025 to January 2027 and will continue the successful environmental education programme while adding new content and methods. Acorema's proposal was reviewed by the Executive Board and a new agreement was concluded.
+++Census of the 2024 moulting population+++
In January, during the moulting period, Acorema once again surveyed the Humboldt penguin population on behalf of the Saint Louis Zoo on and around important breeding islands in Peru. Acorema has enabled Sphenisco to publish a summary of the results. The disturbing results can be read in the article ‘Population decline - fact or artefact?’ from 02 February 2025 on these pages.
+++National conservation plan in Peru+++
On 29th of January, Acorema employees met with Peruvian government agencies and private institutions to draw up a ‘National Conservation Plan for the Humboldt Penguin and the Sea Otter’. The Peruvian conservationists have high hopes for the plan. One of the aims is to place previously unprotected breeding areas under protection and thus put an end to the massive disturbance caused by tourists, among other things (see also article ‘Population decline - fact or artefact?’ from 2nd of February 2025).
EU R O P E
+++Commitment of Jacklyn Gratzfeld+++
The artist Jacklyn Gratzfeld has once again supported Sphenisco as part of the Lions Art Days. As the Villa Ludwigshöhe near Edenkoben is still not available again due to thorough refurbishment, the Art Days took place online this year. The artist is a member of Sphenisco and took part in the Art Days with five works of art. She has announced that she will donate part of the sales proceeds to species conservation.
+++Charity ‘Calendar & Steel Figures ’+++
As reported, Olaf Goldbecker has once again supported the conservation of the Humboldt Penguin with the ‘Charity Calendar’ and ‘Penguin Steel Figures’ projects. At the end of the year, this commitment once again made a generous donation to species conservation possible, which was also particularly generous because Olaf Goldbecker's employer, Friedrich Amtenbrink GmbH & Co. KG, covered the material costs.
In the coming year, Olaf Goldbecker plans to support the EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) Vietnamazing campaign with the calendar project. Irrespective of this, he will continue to support the protection of the Humboldt Penguin with his ‘steel figures’.
+++ ’Heinzelmännchen’ supports Sphenisco+++
Insiders know that the software ‘Joomla’, which is used to create and manage the Sphenisco website, releases new ‘major versions’ every few years. In the past, upgrades had to be carried out by a professional internet company. This was not only time-consuming but also costly. Now it was time again. The main version Joomla 4.X is being phased out and the new version Joomla 5.X is available. This made it necessary to upgrade by autumn of this year at the latest, as no more security updates for Joomla 4.X will be made available after this date. Volker Eggert once again solved the problem and upgraded the homepage to the new version. Well done to the club that has ’Heinzelmännchen’.
+++Donations, donations, donations+++
In December 2024 and January 2025, Sphenisco's species conservation projects were supported particularly often and generously - as has become a tradition. The donors were: Kathrin Ballenthin, Jacklyn Gratzfeld, Woburn Safari Park, England, Saarbrücken Zoo, Olaf Goldbecker, Andrea Rohr, Zoo Parc de Branféré, Verein der Freunde des Tierparks Hagenbeck, Ingo Treffkorn, Jürgen Render, Frankfurt Zoo, Harald Uhl and Gudrun Hagerer-Uhl, Rostock Zoo, Osnabrück Zoo (species conservation day), Vogelpark Marlow, Nature Park Germany GmbH, Naturzoo Rheine, Jürgen u. Beate Elling, Folly Farm Leisure Ltd, Susan Miller, Dajana Schwarz, Tim Fischer.
W.K.
translated by Claudia Fawer
