Last month, the National Aviary celebrated the opening of its new outdoor African penguin exhibit, Penguin Point. The exhibit, which includes a pool, rock formations and nesting cubbies, allows guests 360-degree views of the birds as they dive, swim, play and nest, while a tunnel and pop-up bubbles give young visitors an even closer window on these remarkable birds and their behaviors.

Visitors are being charmed by the up-close experience, but while the exhibit gives yet another reason to love penguins, the National Aviary is committed to ensuring that the exhibit serves a purpose greater than simple entertainment.

African penguins face a grim reality in the wild. Listed as "vulnerable" to extinction on the Red Data list, their populations, once numbering in the millions, have dropped to just 27,000 breeding pairs, a 50 percent drop in just two years. A change to endangered status is likely by the end of this year.

The relentless occurrence of chronic oil spills, together with overfishing and loss of habitat spurred by human population growth is decimating whole colonies of these penguins, which make their nests along South Africa's rocky beaches. At this rate, the species faces the specter of extinction in the wild by 2024.

This past April, I traveled to Gansbaai, South Africa, for the annual International African Penguin Conference. While there I witnessed firsthand the effects humans are having on African penguins and other shore birds in the area.

During the second week of April, an oil spill was detected in the waters near the coast of Namibia. SANCCOB, the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds and one of the hosts for my visit, together with the International Fund for Animal Welfare immediately took action, coordinating a rescue effort to capture and clean the birds caught up in the spill.

Such a swift response was necessitated by the fact that penguins lose the waterproofing and warming capabilities of their feathers when they come in contact with oil. The birds are then not only unable to hunt for food; they also ingest the toxic oil while trying to clean their coated feathers.

A total of 129 oiled birds were caught up and transported via cardboard box and truck to a rescue warehouse base, where volunteers hand-cleaned them, one by one.

Sadly for me, it was a scene that repeated, on a smaller scale, the reason for my previous visit to South Africa nine years ago, when in May 2000 the MV Treasure sank off the coast, releasing 1,100 tons of heavy bunker fuel.

At that time, 40,000 penguins were either caught directly by the spill or were in the path of its spread. An international rescue effort involving zoo and wildlife experts from 14 countries ensued, resulting in a remarkable 90 percent survival rate for oiled penguins.

The rescue effort in 2000 and again this past April were largely successful, and the heroic efforts of people working round the clock to stave off the effects of the spills is admirable. However, such efforts cannot stop the rapid decimation of African penguin populations and other water bird populations.

As global demand for fossil fuels increases, tanker spills and illegal dumping of oily bilge water will continue, impacting not only penguins but hundreds of thousands of seabirds along the coasts of Africa and South America each year. And as human populations grow, demand for seafood will continue to wipe out the sole source of food for penguins, birds and other animal life, even as habitats disappear as a result of coastal development and housing.

The work of accredited zoos such as the National Aviary, working carefully and collaboratively under the direction of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) African Penguin Species Survival Plan, offers one response to the disappearance of African penguins from our planet.

Currently, approximately 700 African penguins are housed at 47 AZA-accredited zoos across the United States. Under the Species Survival Plan, these birds are managed as one population and selectively bred to ensure a genetically healthy captive population for the future.

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At the National Aviary, several of the penguins acquired for the exhibit are of genetic importance, and it is hoped that the birds will be bred in the future. This program, with other zoos and aquariums, can help to ensure that a remnant of the species remains. Such efforts cannot, however, stem the species' rate of decline as a whole, nor will it restore these birds to anything close to their once teeming numbers in the wild. Greater and bolder action is required.

Inspiring such action will be at the heart of the National Aviary's educational efforts that coincide with Penguin Point. It is our hope that those impacted by the sight of these amazing birds will be roused to take conservation action by supporting the National Aviary, by contributing to international conservation and research groups working in South Africa, by making sustainable seafood choices when shopping and dining, or by taking steps to green their own homes, work spaces, schools and communities.

Our goal is easily defined yet not easily attained: save the African penguin from extinction. We all have a vested interest in saving this species so that our grandchildren and their grandchildren will be able to enjoy the African penguin at the National Aviary and in the coastal waters of Southern Africa.