The great penguin rescue
-
0:01 - 0:03For as long as I can remember,
-
0:03 - 0:07I have felt a very deep connection
to animals and to the ocean. -
0:08 - 0:13And at this age, my personal idol
was Flipper the dolphin. -
0:13 - 0:16And when I first learned
about endangered species, -
0:16 - 0:20I was truly distressed to know
that every day, -
0:20 - 0:23animals were being wiped
off the face of this Earth forever. -
0:23 - 0:26And I wanted to do something to help,
but I always wondered: -
0:26 - 0:30What could one person possibly do
to make a difference? -
0:30 - 0:32And it would be 30 years,
-
0:32 - 0:35but I would eventually get
the answer to that question. -
0:36 - 0:39When these heartbreaking
images of oiled birds -
0:39 - 0:42finally began to emerge
from the Gulf of Mexico last year -
0:42 - 0:45during the horrific BP oil spill,
-
0:45 - 0:49a German biologist by the name
of Silvia Gaus was quoted as saying, -
0:49 - 0:52"We should just euthanize all oiled birds,
-
0:52 - 0:53because studies have shown
-
0:53 - 0:58that fewer than one percent of them
survive after being released." -
0:58 - 1:00And I could not disagree more.
-
1:00 - 1:02In addition,
-
1:02 - 1:06I believe that every oiled animal
deserves a second chance at life. -
1:06 - 1:09And I want to tell you why
I feel so strongly about this. -
1:09 - 1:11On June 23, 2000,
-
1:11 - 1:15a ship named the Treasure sank
off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa, -
1:15 - 1:18spilling 1,300 tons of fuel,
-
1:18 - 1:23which polluted the habitats
of nearly half the entire world population -
1:23 - 1:25of African penguins.
-
1:25 - 1:28Now, the ship sank
between Robben Island to the south, -
1:28 - 1:31and Dassen Island to the north --
-
1:31 - 1:33two of the penguins' main
breeding islands. -
1:33 - 1:37And exactly six years
and three days earlier, -
1:37 - 1:40on June 20, 1994,
-
1:40 - 1:43a ship named the Apollo Sea
sank near Dassen Island, -
1:43 - 1:47oiling 10,000 penguins,
half of which died. -
1:47 - 1:49Now when the Treasure sank in 2000,
-
1:49 - 1:52it was the height
of the best breeding season -
1:52 - 1:56scientists had ever recorded
for the African penguin, -
1:56 - 1:59which at the time, was listed
as a threatened species. -
1:59 - 2:02And soon, nearly 20,000 penguins
-
2:02 - 2:04were covered with this toxic oil.
-
2:04 - 2:07The local seabird rescue
center, named SANCCOB, -
2:07 - 2:10immediately launched
a massive rescue operation, -
2:10 - 2:15and this soon would become
the largest animal rescue ever undertaken. -
2:15 - 2:17At the time, I was working
down the street. -
2:17 - 2:20I was a penguin aquarist
at the New England Aquarium. -
2:20 - 2:24And exactly 11 years ago yesterday,
-
2:24 - 2:27the phone rang in the penguin office.
-
2:27 - 2:30And with that call,
my life would change forever. -
2:30 - 2:32It was Estelle van Der Merwe
calling from SANCCOB, -
2:32 - 2:34saying, "Please come help.
-
2:34 - 2:37We have thousands of oiled penguins
-
2:37 - 2:42and thousands of willing
but completely inexperienced volunteers. -
2:42 - 2:46And we need penguin experts
to come train and supervise them." -
2:46 - 2:47So two days later,
-
2:47 - 2:49I was on a plane headed for Cape Town
-
2:49 - 2:51with a team of penguin specialists.
-
2:52 - 2:57And the scene inside of this building
was devastating and surreal. -
2:57 - 3:01In fact, many people
compared it to a war zone. -
3:01 - 3:03Last week, a 10-year-old girl asked me:
-
3:04 - 3:08"What did it feel like
when you first walked into that building -
3:08 - 3:10and saw so many oiled penguins?"
-
3:12 - 3:13And this is what happened.
-
3:13 - 3:17I was instantly transported
back to that moment in time. -
3:18 - 3:22Penguins are very vocal birds
and really, really noisy, -
3:22 - 3:24so I expected to walk into this building
-
3:24 - 3:28and be met with this cacophony
of honking and braying and squawking. -
3:28 - 3:30But instead,
-
3:30 - 3:34when we stepped through
those doors and into the building, -
3:34 - 3:36it was eerily silent.
-
3:37 - 3:39So it was very clear
-
3:39 - 3:42these were stressed,
sick, traumatized birds. -
3:43 - 3:45The other thing that was so striking
-
3:45 - 3:48was the sheer number of volunteers.
-
3:48 - 3:51Up to 1,000 people a day
came to the rescue center. -
3:52 - 3:54Eventually, over the course
of this rescue, -
3:54 - 3:57more than 12-and-a-half
thousand volunteers -
3:57 - 4:00came from all over the world to Cape Town,
-
4:00 - 4:01to help save these birds.
-
4:01 - 4:06And the amazing thing
was that not one of them had to be there. -
4:06 - 4:07Yet they were.
-
4:07 - 4:10So for the few of us that were there
in a professional capacity, -
4:11 - 4:14this extraordinary volunteer response
to this animal crisis -
4:14 - 4:17was profoundly moving and awe-inspiring.
-
4:18 - 4:19So the day after we arrived,
-
4:19 - 4:22two of us from the aquarium
were put in charge of room two. -
4:22 - 4:26Room two had more
than 4,000 oiled penguins in it. -
4:26 - 4:27Now, mind you --
-
4:27 - 4:31three days earlier,
we had 60 penguins under our care, -
4:31 - 4:33so we were definitely overwhelmed
-
4:33 - 4:36and just a bit terrified --
at least I was. -
4:36 - 4:38Personally, I really didn't know
-
4:38 - 4:42if I was capable of handling
such a monstrous task. -
4:42 - 4:44And collectively,
-
4:44 - 4:47we really didn't know
if we could pull this off. -
4:47 - 4:50Because we all knew
that just six years earlier, -
4:50 - 4:53half as many penguins
had been oiled and rescued, -
4:53 - 4:56and only half of them had survived.
-
4:56 - 5:00So would it be humanly possible
to save this many oiled penguins? -
5:00 - 5:02We just did not know.
-
5:02 - 5:04But what gave us hope
-
5:04 - 5:07were these incredibly dedicated
and brave volunteers, -
5:07 - 5:10three of whom here
are force-feeding penguins. -
5:10 - 5:13You may notice they're wearing
very thick gloves. -
5:13 - 5:15And what you should know
about African penguins -
5:15 - 5:18is that they have razor-sharp beaks.
-
5:18 - 5:19And before long,
-
5:19 - 5:22our bodies were covered head to toe
-
5:22 - 5:26with these nasty wounds
inflicted by the terrified penguins. -
5:26 - 5:30Now the day after we arrived,
a new crisis began to unfold. -
5:30 - 5:33The oil slick was now moving
north towards Dassen Island, -
5:33 - 5:35and the rescuers despaired,
-
5:35 - 5:37because they knew if the oil hit,
-
5:37 - 5:40it would not be possible
to rescue any more oiled birds. -
5:40 - 5:42And there really were no good solutions.
-
5:42 - 5:43But then finally,
-
5:43 - 5:46one of the researchers
threw out this crazy idea. -
5:46 - 5:50He said, "OK, why don't we try
and collect the birds -
5:50 - 5:52at the greatest risk of getting oiled" --
-
5:52 - 5:54they collected 20,000 --
-
5:54 - 5:58"and we'll ship them 500 miles
up the coast to Port Elizabeth -
5:58 - 6:00in these open-air trucks,
-
6:00 - 6:02and release them
into the clean waters there -
6:02 - 6:03and let them swim back home?"
-
6:04 - 6:06(Laughter)
-
6:08 - 6:11So three of those penguins --
Peter, Pamela and Percy -- -
6:11 - 6:13wore satellite tags,
-
6:13 - 6:15and the researchers crossed their fingers
-
6:15 - 6:17and hoped that by the time
they got back home, -
6:17 - 6:19the oil would be cleaned up
from their islands. -
6:19 - 6:22And luckily, the day they arrived, it was.
-
6:22 - 6:26So it had been a huge gamble,
but it had paid off. -
6:26 - 6:29And so they know now
that they can use this strategy -
6:29 - 6:30in future oil spills.
-
6:31 - 6:34So in wildlife rescue as in life,
-
6:34 - 6:37we learn from each previous experience,
-
6:37 - 6:41and we learn from both
our successes and our failures. -
6:41 - 6:45And the main thing learned
during the Apollo Sea rescue in '94 -
6:45 - 6:50was that most of those penguins
had died due to the unwitting use -
6:50 - 6:53of poorly ventilated
transport boxes and trucks, -
6:53 - 6:55because they just had not been prepared
-
6:55 - 6:57to deal with so many
oiled penguins at once. -
6:57 - 7:00So in these six years
between these two oil spills, -
7:00 - 7:03they've built thousands
of these well-ventilated boxes. -
7:03 - 7:06And as a result,
during the Treasure rescue, -
7:06 - 7:11just 160 penguins died
during the transport process, -
7:11 - 7:13as opposed to 5,000.
-
7:13 - 7:15So this alone was a huge victory.
-
7:16 - 7:18Something else learned
during the Apollo rescue -
7:18 - 7:20was how to train the penguins
-
7:20 - 7:23to take fish freely from their hands,
-
7:23 - 7:24using these training boxes.
-
7:25 - 7:28And we used this technique again
during the Treasure rescue. -
7:28 - 7:33But an interesting thing was noted
during the training process. -
7:33 - 7:36The first penguins to make
that transition to free feeding -
7:36 - 7:39were the ones that had
a metal band on their wing -
7:39 - 7:43from the Apollo Sea spill
six years earlier. -
7:43 - 7:46So penguins learn
from previous experience, too. -
7:47 - 7:51So all of those penguins had to have
the oil meticulously cleaned -
7:51 - 7:52from their bodies.
-
7:52 - 7:57It would take two people at least an hour
just to clean one penguin. -
7:57 - 7:58When you clean a penguin,
-
7:58 - 8:00you first have to spray it
with a degreaser. -
8:00 - 8:04And this brings me to my favorite story
from the Treasure rescue. -
8:04 - 8:07About a year prior to this oil spill,
-
8:07 - 8:10a 17-year-old student
had invented a degreaser. -
8:11 - 8:13And they'd been using it
at SANCCOB with great success, -
8:14 - 8:16so they began using it
during the Treasure rescue. -
8:16 - 8:19But partway through, they ran out.
-
8:20 - 8:22So in a panic, Estelle
from SANCCOB called the student -
8:22 - 8:25and said, "Please, you have to make more!"
-
8:25 - 8:26So he raced to the lab
-
8:26 - 8:29and made enough to clean
the rest of the birds. -
8:29 - 8:32So I just think it is the coolest thing
-
8:32 - 8:35that a teenager invented a product
-
8:35 - 8:39that helped save the lives
of thousands of animals. -
8:39 - 8:43So what happened
to those 20,000 oiled penguins? -
8:43 - 8:45And was Silvia Gaus right?
-
8:45 - 8:48Should we routinely euthanize
all oiled birds -
8:48 - 8:51because most of them
are going to die anyway? -
8:51 - 8:53Well, she could not be more wrong.
-
8:54 - 8:58After half a million hours
of grueling volunteer labor, -
8:58 - 9:00more than 90 percent
of those oiled penguins -
9:00 - 9:03were successfully returned to the wild.
-
9:03 - 9:06And we know from follow-up studies
-
9:06 - 9:10that they have lived just as long
as never-oiled penguins, -
9:10 - 9:12and bred nearly as successfully.
-
9:12 - 9:14And in addition,
-
9:14 - 9:17about 3,000 penguin chicks
were rescued and hand raised. -
9:18 - 9:20And again, we know
from long-term monitoring -
9:20 - 9:26that more of these hand-raised chicks
survive to adulthood and breeding age -
9:26 - 9:28than do parent-raised chicks.
-
9:28 - 9:32Armed with this knowledge,
SANCCOB has a chick-bolstering project, -
9:32 - 9:35and every year, they rescue
and raise abandoned chicks, -
9:35 - 9:39and they have a very impressive,
80 percent success rate. -
9:39 - 9:41This is critically important,
-
9:41 - 9:44because one year ago,
-
9:44 - 9:47the African penguin
was declared endangered. -
9:47 - 9:51And they could be extinct
in less than 10 years -
9:51 - 9:54if we don't do something
now to protect them. -
9:54 - 9:55So what did I learn
-
9:55 - 9:58from this intense
and unforgettable experience? -
9:58 - 10:02Personally, I learned that I am capable
of handling so much more -
10:02 - 10:04than I ever dreamed possible.
-
10:04 - 10:07And I learned that one person
can make a huge difference. -
10:07 - 10:09Just look at that 17-year-old.
-
10:10 - 10:13And when we come together and work as one,
-
10:13 - 10:16we can achieve extraordinary things.
-
10:16 - 10:20And truly, to be a part of something
so much larger than yourself -
10:20 - 10:24is the most rewarding experience
you can possibly have. -
10:25 - 10:27So I'd like to leave you
with one final thought -
10:27 - 10:29and a challenge, if you will.
-
10:29 - 10:33My mission as The Penguin Lady
is to raise awareness and funding -
10:33 - 10:35to protect penguins.
-
10:35 - 10:37But why should any of you
care about penguins? -
10:37 - 10:41Well, you should care
because they're an indicator species. -
10:41 - 10:46And simply put: if penguins are dying,
it means our oceans are dying. -
10:46 - 10:48And we ultimately will be affected,
-
10:48 - 10:50because, as Sylvia Earle says,
-
10:50 - 10:53"The oceans are our life-support system."
-
10:53 - 10:55And the two main threats to penguins today
-
10:56 - 10:58are overfishing and global warming.
-
10:58 - 10:59And these are two things
-
10:59 - 11:04that each one of us actually has
the power to do something about. -
11:04 - 11:08So if we each do our part, together,
we can make a difference, -
11:08 - 11:11and we can help keep
penguins from going extinct. -
11:12 - 11:15Humans have always been the greatest
threat to penguins, -
11:15 - 11:17but we are now their only hope.
-
11:17 - 11:18Thank you.
-
11:18 - 11:23(Applause)
- Title:
- The great penguin rescue
- Speaker:
- Dyan deNapoli
- Description:
-
A personal story, a collective triumph: Dyan deNapoli tells the story of the world's largest volunteer animal rescue, which saved more than 40,000 penguins after an oil spill off the coast of South Africa. How does a job this big get done? Penguin by penguin by penguin ...
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:23
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | ||
TED edited English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | ||
TED added a translation |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 6/3/2016.