Baby flamingos rescued from drought-stricken lake in Algeria. July 22, 2024

A rescued flamingo at a sanctuary where the birds were taken after the lake in Algeria dried up (-)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Baby flamingos rescued from drought-stricken lake in Algeria.

Around 300 pink flamingo chicks have been rescued by volunteers in eastern Algeria after the salt lake where they were hatched dried up following years of high temperatures and drought.

Every year, thousands of flamingos migrate to Lake Tinsilt, which is located around 450 kilometers southeast of the capital Algiers, to breed.

With an area of over 20 square kilometers, it is one of the largest wetlands in the country.

“Barely a month ago, there was still water here,” volunteer Mourad Ajroud told AFP on Friday, pointing to the vast expanse of cracked earth littered with the carcasses of dead birds.

The disappearance of the lake, blamed by locals and Algerian media on high temperatures and years of drought, has driven away the adult flamingos.

They left behind their unhatched eggs and their defenseless chicks, dozens of which died from hunger, thirst, poaching, and wolf attacks.

A group of volunteers made their cars and trucks available to transport 283 pink flamingos to Lake Mahidiya, about 50 kilometers away.

The wetland near Ain Mlila remains flooded thanks to the constant influx of water from nearby rivers and lakes.

The rescue operation was initiated by amateur photographer Tarek Kawajlia, who has been documenting the wildlife in his region and noticed the shrinking lake area and the flock of birds.

The volunteers conduct “morning and evening patrols to monitor the chicks until they have recovered and can fly so that they can return to the sabkha (marsh) next year and life can resume its normal course,” Kawajlia told AFP.

Ajroud, 53, said the group could not save all the birds.

“We couldn't transport them all,” he said sadly, while another volunteer took an injured bird to a veterinary clinic.

A few hours after the chicks were released into their new habitat, they were joined by some adult birds.

“The operation was successful and the parents found their little ones in a great environment,” Kawajlia commented on one of the photos he posted on Facebook.

Lake Tinsilt is one of around 50 bodies of water in Algeria that have been designated as wetlands of international importance under the International Ramsar Convention for the protection of wetlands.

Last year, according to environmental activists, around one hundred pink flamingos died at Lake Telamine in the province of Oran in western Algeria due to sewage pollution.

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