Have you ever thought you would like to get involved with penguins yourself?  For many years we really wanted to feel we could help penguins and also hoped to meet penguins close up.  Over the last few years we have found many ways to achieve these ambitions, on this page we will share with you a few of the ways you too can get involved with penguins.

There are four main ways to get involved.

Most zoos have volunteer programmes, where local people help out by talking to the public about the exhibits, etc.  If you can join such a programme and demonstrate a real interest in the penguins, it is very likely you will be asked to help out there with a good chance that eventually you might be allowed inside to meet the penguins close up, etc.  We know of a couple of people who have managed this at our local zoo.

Nearly all Zoos and Aquaria run animal sponsorship schemes; in return for a donation (typically anything from UK£30 up to UK£300) you can "adopt" a penguin.  Once you are an "adopter", most zoos will, with enough advance notice and after a nice letter, take the time to show you your adopted penguin close up.  We have adopted penguins at three zoos in the UK and we have been invited inside the penguin enclosures at all three zoos.

There are many research and conservation projects that involve penguins around the world.  If you make a contribution to any of these, the people working on the projects are usually very grateful, so that if you show up, by prior arrangement, of course, they will usually be only too pleased to show you around their projects and talk about their research.  Oftentimes this will include getting really close up to penguins in the wild. We have put together a short list of organisations that are involved in penguin conservation and research on another page.

Of course, most conservation and some research projects need volunteers to help with their work, so if you can manage to get there, you are very likely to be made very welcome and set to work with the penguins.  The best place to start is at SANCCOB near Cape Town in South Africa.  SANCCOB rescues injured and oiled seabirds.  They usually have 20 or so penguins in their care at any one time and are always looking for volunteers to help with the operation of the organisation.  We spent a very enjoyable day working there last year.  Not only did we get to clean out lots of pens and pools, we also helped to clean a badly oiled gannet and then were very lucky to help put 32 penguins that had been rehabilitated into boxes and transport them to a beach where we watched them being released back into the sea.
 
 

Guide to Pete & Barb's Penguin Pages
Front Page and Introduction · Descriptions of the Penguins · Detailed Species Notes · Breeding Behaviour · Common questions · Penguin Goodies · Penguin Bibliography · Good Penguin Guide · Photo Index · Links to other penguin sites · 'Penguin-balls' · Endangered Penguins ·
Return to the top of this page