BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: An oil spill has affected a species of penguins. This along the South African coast during a very important breeding season. CNN's Chris Riker now with more.</s>CHRIS RIKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's something very wrong around Robben Island in the waters off Cape Town. The island's penguin population in covered with gunk. The oily sludge came from the tanker Treasure which sank Friday, even as crews attempted to tow the rusted and wounded vessel out to see. Now, the once pristine coast is oozing with the stuff.</s>MAYOR WILLIAM BANTON, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA: The rocks are all covered in a thick layer of oil. Some penguins have already been retrieved from the rocks. And as I looked at the birds, they are in a bad shape.</s>RIKER: About 100 rescuers are fighting the clock and ill- tempered beaks. It is said to be the largest such operation ever attempted.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a total of 13,000 adult penguins on the island, so we're looking -- I think in the next couple of days we'll probably have at least 10,000 penguins.</s>RIKER: Still, rescuers believe the spill has already sealed the fate of many of the penguin chicks. For the lucky ones, it's an unceremonious passage in a brown shipping box. They'll be flown east to Port Elizabeth where environmentalists say the aquatic birds will begin their long swim back. In that time, about 12 days, the workers hope to have the mess cleaned up. South African authorities say it will be up to the shipping company to pay for the cleanup -- at least 2 million rand, or nearly $3 million U.S. And it is not only the birds that are threatened. Robben Island is also a popular tourist attraction and museum, as well as the site of an apartheid-era jail, whose political prisoners once included Nelson Mandela. Chris Riker, CNN.</s>HEMMER: Some pretty coastline there, too.
Oil Spill Disrupts Penguin Breeding Off Coast of South Africa