Handled with glove..

Hospital's urgent mission for endangered African penguins

- NADA FARHOUD

"P-P-PICK up a Penguin" was the catchphrase made famous in the 1980s advert for a chocolate biscuit.

But volunteers at a penguin conservation project say that the task is the hardest part of their day and can be rather painful.

Staff wear thick protective sleeves during feeding time when chicks try to peck them.

The penguin hospital, which treats injured, abandoned, sick or oiled birds, is officially known as SANCCOB - the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds.

Yesterday we revealed how the beloved birds are teetering on the brink of extinction from overfishing and climate change.

Scientists say that unless urgent action is taken, African penguins will disappear by 2035 with just 8,300 breeding pairs left in South Africa.