Years of severe drought brought the capital of South Africa dangerously close to becoming the first major city in the modern era to face the threat of running out of water, and while such a scenario was fortunately averted, the drought did cause a reservoir that hosts one of southern Africa’s largest flamingo populations to dry up. As flamingos fled their territory in search of water, thousands of baby flamingos were abandoned and left behind by their parents. When news of the abandoned birds broke last month, conservationists stepped in and saved the flamingo chicks, bringing them to rehabilitation centers across the country. Now the flamingos are being nurtured by volunteers until they can safely be released out into the wild.