Cecilia Durán Gafo, a 72-year-old former kindergarten teacher, has established a vital sanctuary for the world’s only continental colony of king penguins in Useless Bay, southern Chile.
What began as a personal effort to stop the mistreatment of the birds has been transformed into a legally protected reserve that now supports nearly 200 penguins.
King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) typically reside on islands in the Southern Ocean, but they have frequented the wind-battered shores of Tierra del Fuego for centuries.
The location, named Useless Bay because its shallow waters made landing industrial fishing boats nearly impossible, offers natural protection from marine predators.
The colony’s survival was not always guaranteed. In the early 1990s, penguins nesting on Durán’s land were captured and taken to Japan, reportedly for zoos or as pets.
When the birds returned in 2010, they faced harassment from tourists who dressed them in caps and sunglasses for photographs. This human interference caused the population to collapse from 90 birds to just eight within a single year.
Determined to protect the species, Durán began patrolling the beach daily. In 2011, she fenced off 30 hectares (74 acres) of her 1,000-hectare farm to create a protected area, eventually starting the legal process to ensure the land remains a reserve for the next 100 years.
“It was only thanks to the reserve that [the penguins] got a safe space where they could build up and establish a colony,” said Dr Klemens Pütz, scientific director at the Antarctic Research Trust.
Beyond human threats, the reserve faces challenges from invasive species such as minks and grey foxes, which prey on eggs and chicks. To combat this, Durán and her team developed a strategy of luring predators away with meat scraps and using dogs to mark territory, discouraging the invasive animals from entering the nesting grounds.
Today, the reserve is managed by a 12-person team, including biologists, veterinarians, and ecotourism specialists. The operation is funded by ecotourism, attracting an average of 15,000 visitors annually who observe the penguins from a distance.
Scientific collaboration with universities has revealed that the colony exhibits “exceptional foraging plasticity,” allowing birds from thousands of kilometres away to adapt to the local diet. This trait may prove essential for the species’ survival against climate impacts.
Durán’s conservation model is showing clear results; last year, the colony saw a record 23 chicks successfully fledge.
