Spotlight Brazil: releasing dozens of rehabilitated penguins back into the wild

One hundred fifteen of the one hundred eighty penguins cared for by Brazil’s Instituto de Pesquisa e Reabilitação de Animais Marinhos (IPRAM) were successfully released into the wild between two separate days in October, the 4^th and the 23^rd.

All remaining birds are still undergoing treatment and will be released at a later date.

It has been shown that rehabilitated Magellanic penguins can travel long distances to return to their original colonies. This is the furthest north that rehabilitated penguins have been released in Brazil.

To track their progress, these birds were banded by the national banding authority (CEMAVE) and released within the species' known geographic range.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) helped IPRAM by sharing expertise in working with large numbers penguins, maximizing resources and minimizing the time that animals remain in care. 

IFAW funding also provided equipment to help refine animal husbandry techniques at IPRAM.

--VM