Over the last 40 years, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) has cared for more than 50,000 seabirds. The majority of oiled seabirds are African penguins. This is mostly due their behavior of spending a large amount of time at the sea surface, catching prey by diving and feeding in the same waters as shipping lanes. Based on peer reviewed literature, South Africa is of special interest to studying the effects of oiled seabird cleansing. The country has the world’s most successful rehabilitation (proportion of birds known to have have survived at least one month post cleansing) and restoration (proportion of rehabilitated birds attempting to breed post cleansing) of oiled seabirds. The cost of de-oiling African penguins is proving to be one worthwhile conservation method for this species. Other methods includes preventing or reducing oils spills, rapidly evacuating birds from affected areas and determining sources of chronic oil spills.-Pamela Schaller