Bob the flamingo is an unusual advocate for conservation. He is a metre high, pink and cannot speak. Yet he is a TV star in his homeland – Curaçao in the southern Caribbean – where he plays a part in highlighting the importance of protecting wildlife.

It is a remarkable success story for a flamingo and will reach even greater heights this week when his story is featured in a series of striking images that are to be displayed at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards at the Natural History Museum in London.

The photos of Bob were taken by Jasper Doest, who is based in Curaçao, and show Bob in the TV studio and at schools, where he is also used by conservationists to demonstrate the importance of the island’s native species. These images have earned Doest a commendation in the award’s photojournalist story category.

Odette in the kitchen with Bob and one of her nine cats. Photograph: Jasper Doest

“Bob came to our attention when he flew into a hotel window and knocked himself out,” Doest told the Observer. The unconscious wading bird was taken to Odette Doest, Jasper’s cousin and a local vet, who runs a wildlife rehabilitation centre, the Fundashon Dier en Onderwijs.

“Bob recovered from his head injury and we discovered he had been kept at a local aquarium where he had spent a long time walking on concrete floors,” said Doest. “He had developed bumblefoot – a very painful condition that causes lesions and growths to develop under a bird’s feet. Normally we would have tried to return him to the wild, to the local salt flats where there is a colony of several hundred flamingos, but his condition meant that we could not do that.”

So Bob moved into Odette’s home, which he now shares with a macaw, nine cats and 10 dogs, as well as Odette and her son. When she treats other injured animals in her surgery, Bob comes too, and is credited by her as having a calming influence.

Bob on a regular school visit. Photograph: Jasper Doest

Not long after Bob moved in, Odette was invited on a TV morning talkshow. She asked if she could bring a flamingo. “The producers assumed she meant a plastic one,” said Doest. “They were a bit shocked to see Bob in the flesh. However, one of the presenters introduced herself, and it wasn’t long before Bob had established himself in the studio. He has become a regular on the show and is generally very well behaved – apart from the occasional dropping – and is now well known across Curaçao.”

Bob has also become an ambassador for Odette’s charity and is driven to various events – while sitting on her lap as she drives. “He is just incredibly useful when you want to tell children about the dangers posed to wildlife by plastic in the sea or other threats. Having a real wildlife with you when you are doing that makes your message all the more powerful.”