AN AIR DASH across Africa to carry a precious cargo of rare eggs to Paignton Zoo only just made it in time.

Within two days of bird keeper Tony Durkin flying from South Africa with an incubator containing 10 eggs of endangered bank cormorants, the chicks started to hatch at the zoo's quarantine zone.

The eggs were collected from the wild for hatching in Paignton as a conservation project.

So far eight chicks have hatched but two have died.

Six survivors are being hand reared and two eggs are still being incubated.

Torquay's coastal zoo at Living Coasts is home to the only bank cormorants in any zoo anywhere in the world and now Tony and his colleague head keeper Lois Rowell are dedicating long days to hand-rearing the clutch of chicks.

Tony, senior head keeper, said: "Bank cormorants hatch blind, naked and helpless. They need care for a comparatively long time compared to some other birds and mammals."

The daily care routine starts at 7am, with syringe feeding of liquidised fish and vitamins every couple of hours until 10pm.

Tony and Lois' days are taken up with feeding, cleaning, monitoring and weighing the chicks and trying to juggle their normal jobs at Living Coasts.

Volunteers are supporting the keepers there who care for the animals and birds to take some of the pressure off them.

Tony says he is naturally cautious but adds: "The chicks are calling and clamouring for food, which is a very good sign.

"It's early days and there's a long way to go, but the signs are promising. You can't assume anything but we have six chicks from 10 eggs, which is excellent.

"We are doing very long days and it is a lot of responsibility as we are talking about the survival of the species."

There will be 10 weeks of hand feeding and quarantine will continue until 35 days after the last egg has hatched.

The six chicks are in a brooder box at a constant 36 degrees C and later they will go under heat lamps.

Once out of quarantine, the chicks will be off-show at Living Coasts for 12 weeks while their adult feathers grow.

Staff hope to establish a population to help secure the future of this endangered species, also known as Wahlberg's cormorant, which is found in Namibia and the western coastline of South Africa. Numbers have declined due to commercial fishing, increasing human disturbance, gull predators and there are probably now around 4,000 birds.