The great penguin rescue | Dyan deNapoli | TEDxBoston
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0:10 - 0:12For as long as I can remember,
-
0:12 - 0:16I have felt a very deep connection
to animals and to the ocean. -
0:17 - 0:22And at this age, my personal idol
was Flipper the dolphin. -
0:23 - 0:26And when I first learned
about endangered species, -
0:26 - 0:30I was truly distressed to know
that every day, -
0:30 - 0:34animals were being wiped
off the face of this Earth forever. -
0:34 - 0:37And I wanted to do something to help,
but I always wondered: -
0:37 - 0:40What could one person possibly do
to make a difference? -
0:40 - 0:42And it would be 30 years,
-
0:43 - 0:45but I would eventually get
the answer to that question. -
0:46 - 0:50When these heartbreaking
images of oiled birds -
0:50 - 0:53finally began to emerge
from the Gulf of Mexico last year -
0:53 - 0:55during the horrific BP oil spill,
-
0:55 - 0:59a German biologist by the name
of Silvia Gaus was quoted as saying, -
0:59 - 1:02"We should just euthanize all oiled birds,
-
1:02 - 1:03because studies have shown
-
1:03 - 1:08that fewer than one percent of them
survive after being released." -
1:09 - 1:11And I could not disagree more.
-
1:11 - 1:12In addition,
-
1:12 - 1:16I believe that every oiled animal
deserves a second chance at life. -
1:16 - 1:19And I want to tell you why
I feel so strongly about this. -
1:20 - 1:22On June 23, 2000,
-
1:22 - 1:26a ship named the Treasure sank
off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa, -
1:26 - 1:28spilling 1,300 tons of fuel,
-
1:28 - 1:34which polluted the habitats
of nearly half the entire world population -
1:34 - 1:35of African penguins.
-
1:36 - 1:39Now, the ship sank
between Robben Island to the south, -
1:39 - 1:41and Dassen Island to the north --
-
1:41 - 1:44two of the penguins' main
breeding islands. -
1:44 - 1:48And exactly six years
and three days earlier, -
1:48 - 1:50on June 20, 1994,
-
1:50 - 1:53a ship named the Apollo Sea
sank near Dassen Island, -
1:53 - 1:57oiling 10,000 penguins,
half of which died. -
1:58 - 2:00Now when the Treasure sank in 2000,
-
2:00 - 2:03it was the height
of the best breeding season -
2:03 - 2:07scientists had ever recorded
for the African penguin, -
2:07 - 2:10which at the time, was listed
as a threatened species. -
2:10 - 2:12And soon, nearly 20,000 penguins
-
2:12 - 2:15were covered with this toxic oil.
-
2:15 - 2:18The local seabird rescue
center, named SANCCOB, -
2:18 - 2:21immediately launched
a massive rescue operation, -
2:21 - 2:25and this soon would become
the largest animal rescue ever undertaken. -
2:26 - 2:28At the time, I was working
down the street. -
2:28 - 2:31I was a penguin aquarist
at the New England Aquarium. -
2:31 - 2:35And exactly 11 years ago yesterday,
-
2:35 - 2:37the phone rang in the penguin office.
-
2:37 - 2:40And with that call,
my life would change forever. -
2:40 - 2:43It was Estelle van Der Merwe
calling from SANCCOB, -
2:43 - 2:45saying, "Please come help.
-
2:45 - 2:48We have thousands of oiled penguins
-
2:48 - 2:53and thousands of willing
but completely inexperienced volunteers. -
2:53 - 2:57And we need penguin experts
to come train and supervise them." -
2:57 - 2:58So two days later,
-
2:58 - 3:00I was on a plane headed for Cape Town
-
3:00 - 3:02with a team of penguin specialists.
-
3:03 - 3:08And the scene inside of this building
was devastating and surreal. -
3:08 - 3:11In fact, many people
compared it to a war zone. -
3:11 - 3:14Last week, a 10-year-old girl asked me:
-
3:14 - 3:18"What did it feel like
when you first walked into that building -
3:18 - 3:21and saw so many oiled penguins?"
-
3:22 - 3:24And this is what happened.
-
3:24 - 3:28I was instantly transported
back to that moment in time. -
3:29 - 3:33Penguins are very vocal birds
and really, really noisy, -
3:33 - 3:35so I expected to walk into this building
-
3:35 - 3:39and be met with this cacophony
of honking and braying and squawking. -
3:39 - 3:41But instead,
-
3:41 - 3:44when we stepped through
those doors and into the building, -
3:44 - 3:47it was eerily silent.
-
3:48 - 3:49So it was very clear
-
3:49 - 3:53these were stressed,
sick, traumatized birds. -
3:54 - 3:56The other thing that was so striking
-
3:56 - 3:59was the sheer number of volunteers.
-
3:59 - 4:02Up to 1,000 people a day
came to the rescue center. -
4:02 - 4:05And eventually, over the course
of this rescue, -
4:05 - 4:08more than 12-and-a-half
thousand volunteers -
4:08 - 4:10came from all over the world to Cape Town,
-
4:10 - 4:12to help save these birds.
-
4:12 - 4:17And the amazing thing
was that not one of them had to be there. -
4:17 - 4:18Yet they were.
-
4:18 - 4:21So for the few of us that were there
in a professional capacity, -
4:21 - 4:25this extraordinary volunteer response
to this animal crisis -
4:25 - 4:28was profoundly moving and awe-inspiring.
-
4:31 - 4:32So the day after we arrived,
-
4:32 - 4:35two of us from the aquarium
were put in charge of room two. -
4:35 - 4:39Room two had more
than 4,000 oiled penguins in it. -
4:39 - 4:41Now, mind you --
-
4:41 - 4:44three days earlier,
we had 60 penguins under our care, -
4:44 - 4:46so we were definitely overwhelmed
-
4:46 - 4:49and just a bit terrified --
at least I was. -
4:49 - 4:51Personally, I really didn't know
-
4:51 - 4:56if I was capable of handling
such a monstrous task. -
4:56 - 4:57And collectively,
-
4:57 - 5:00we really didn't know
if we could pull this off. -
5:00 - 5:03Because we all knew
that just six years earlier, -
5:03 - 5:06half as many penguins
had been oiled and rescued, -
5:06 - 5:09and only half of them had survived.
-
5:09 - 5:14So would it be humanly possible
to save this many oiled penguins? -
5:14 - 5:15We just did not know.
-
5:16 - 5:17But what gave us hope
-
5:17 - 5:21were these incredibly dedicated
and brave volunteers, -
5:21 - 5:23three of whom here
are force-feeding penguins. -
5:23 - 5:26You may notice they're wearing
very thick gloves. -
5:26 - 5:29And what you should know
about African penguins -
5:29 - 5:31is that they have razor-sharp beaks.
-
5:32 - 5:33And before long,
-
5:33 - 5:36our bodies were covered head to toe
-
5:36 - 5:39with these nasty wounds
inflicted by the terrified penguins. -
5:40 - 5:43Now the day after we arrived,
a new crisis began to unfold. -
5:43 - 5:46The oil slick was now moving
north towards Dassen Island, -
5:46 - 5:49and the rescuers despaired,
-
5:49 - 5:51because they knew if the oil hit,
-
5:51 - 5:54it would not be possible
to rescue any more oiled birds. -
5:54 - 5:56And there really were no good solutions.
-
5:56 - 5:57But then finally,
-
5:57 - 6:00one of the researchers
threw out this crazy idea. -
6:00 - 6:03He said, "OK, why don't we try
and collect the birds -
6:03 - 6:05at the greatest risk of getting oiled" --
-
6:05 - 6:07they collected 20,000 --
-
6:07 - 6:12"and we'll ship them 500 miles
up the coast to Port Elizabeth -
6:12 - 6:13in these open-air trucks,
-
6:13 - 6:15and release them
into the clean waters there -
6:15 - 6:17and let them swim back home?"
-
6:17 - 6:19(Laughter)
-
6:21 - 6:25So three of those penguins --
Peter, Pamela and Percy -- -
6:25 - 6:26wore satellite tags,
-
6:26 - 6:28and the researchers crossed their fingers
-
6:28 - 6:30and hoped that by the time
they got back home, -
6:30 - 6:32the oil would be cleaned up
from their islands. -
6:32 - 6:35And luckily, the day they arrived, it was.
-
6:36 - 6:39So it had been a huge gamble,
but it had paid off. -
6:39 - 6:42And so they know now
that they can use this strategy -
6:42 - 6:44in future oil spills.
-
6:45 - 6:48So in wildlife rescue as in life,
-
6:48 - 6:51we learn from each previous experience,
-
6:51 - 6:55and we learn from both
our successes and our failures. -
6:55 - 6:59And the main thing learned
during the Apollo Sea rescue in '94 -
6:59 - 7:04was that most of those penguins
had died due to the unwitting use -
7:04 - 7:07of poorly ventilated
transport boxes and trucks, -
7:07 - 7:09because they just had not been prepared
-
7:09 - 7:11to deal with so many
oiled penguins at once. -
7:11 - 7:14So in these six years
between these two oil spills, -
7:14 - 7:17they've built thousands
of these well-ventilated boxes. -
7:17 - 7:20And as a result,
during the Treasure rescue, -
7:20 - 7:25just 160 penguins died
during the transport process, -
7:25 - 7:27as opposed to 5,000.
-
7:27 - 7:29So this alone was a huge victory.
-
7:30 - 7:32Something else learned
during the Apollo rescue -
7:32 - 7:34was how to train the penguins
-
7:34 - 7:37to take fish freely from their hands,
-
7:37 - 7:38using these training boxes.
-
7:39 - 7:42And we used this technique again
during the Treasure rescue. -
7:42 - 7:47But an interesting thing was noted
during the training process. -
7:47 - 7:50The first penguins to make
that transition to free feeding -
7:50 - 7:53were the ones that had
a metal band on their wing -
7:53 - 7:57from the Apollo Sea spill
six years earlier. -
7:57 - 8:00So penguins learn
from previous experience, too. -
8:01 - 8:05So all of those penguins had to have
the oil meticulously cleaned -
8:05 - 8:06from their bodies.
-
8:06 - 8:11It would take two people at least an hour
just to clean one penguin. -
8:11 - 8:13And when you clean a penguin,
-
8:13 - 8:15you first have to spray it
with a degreaser. -
8:15 - 8:19And this brings me to my favorite story
from the Treasure rescue. -
8:19 - 8:22About a year prior to this oil spill,
-
8:22 - 8:25a 17-year-old student
had invented a degreaser. -
8:26 - 8:29And they'd been using it
at SANCCOB with great success, -
8:29 - 8:31so they began using it
during the Treasure rescue. -
8:31 - 8:34But partway through, they ran out.
-
8:35 - 8:38So in a panic, Estelle
from SANCCOB called the student -
8:38 - 8:40and said, "Please, you have to make more!"
-
8:40 - 8:41So he raced to the lab
-
8:41 - 8:44and made enough to clean
the rest of the birds. -
8:44 - 8:47So I just think it is the coolest thing
-
8:47 - 8:51that a teenager invented a product
-
8:51 - 8:54that helped save the lives
of thousands of animals. -
8:55 - 8:58So what happened
to those 20,000 oiled penguins? -
8:58 - 9:00And was Silvia Gaus right?
-
9:00 - 9:04Should we routinely euthanize
all oiled birds -
9:04 - 9:06because most of them
are going to die anyway? -
9:06 - 9:09Well, she could not be more wrong.
-
9:09 - 9:14After half a million hours
of grueling volunteer labor, -
9:14 - 9:16more than 90 percent
of those oiled penguins -
9:16 - 9:19were successfully returned to the wild.
-
9:19 - 9:21And we know from follow-up studies
-
9:21 - 9:26that they have lived just as long
as never-oiled penguins, -
9:26 - 9:28and bred nearly as successfully.
-
9:29 - 9:30And in addition,
-
9:30 - 9:34about 3,000 penguin chicks
were rescued and hand raised. -
9:34 - 9:36And again, we know
from long-term monitoring -
9:36 - 9:43that more of these hand-raised chicks
survive to adulthood and breeding age -
9:43 - 9:45than do parent-raised chicks.
-
9:45 - 9:48Armed with this knowledge,
SANCCOB has a chick-bolstering project, -
9:48 - 9:51and every year, they rescue
and raise abandoned chicks, -
9:51 - 9:56and they have a very impressive,
80 percent success rate. -
9:56 - 9:58This is critically important,
-
9:58 - 10:00because one year ago,
-
10:00 - 10:03the African penguin
was declared endangered. -
10:04 - 10:07And they could be extinct
in less than 10 years -
10:07 - 10:10if we don't do something
now to protect them. -
10:10 - 10:12So what did I learn
-
10:12 - 10:15from this intense
and unforgettable experience? -
10:15 - 10:18Personally, I learned that I am capable
of handling so much more -
10:18 - 10:20than I ever dreamed possible.
-
10:20 - 10:24And I learned that one person
can make a huge difference. -
10:24 - 10:26Just look at that 17-year-old.
-
10:26 - 10:30And when we come together and work as one,
-
10:30 - 10:33we can achieve extraordinary things.
-
10:33 - 10:37And truly, to be a part of something
so much larger than yourself -
10:37 - 10:40is the most rewarding experience
you can possibly have. -
10:41 - 10:44So I'd like to leave you
with one final thought -
10:44 - 10:45and a challenge, if you will.
-
10:45 - 10:50My mission as The Penguin Lady
is to raise awareness and funding -
10:50 - 10:51to protect penguins.
-
10:51 - 10:54But why should any of you
care about penguins? -
10:54 - 10:58Well, you should care
because they're an indicator species. -
10:58 - 11:03And simply put: if penguins are dying,
it means our oceans are dying. -
11:03 - 11:05And we ultimately will be affected,
-
11:05 - 11:07because, as Sylvia Earle says,
-
11:07 - 11:10"The oceans are our life-support system."
-
11:10 - 11:12And the two main threats to penguins today
-
11:12 - 11:15are overfishing and global warming.
-
11:15 - 11:16And these are two things
-
11:16 - 11:21that each one of us actually has
the power to do something about. -
11:21 - 11:25So if we each do our part, together,
we can make a difference, -
11:25 - 11:28and we can help keep
penguins from going extinct. -
11:28 - 11:32Humans have always been the greatest
threat to penguins, -
11:32 - 11:34but we are now their only hope.
-
11:34 - 11:35Thank you.
-
11:35 - 11:41(Applause)
- Title:
- The great penguin rescue | Dyan deNapoli | TEDxBoston
- Description:
-
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
"Penguins are very vocal birds and really, really noisy when we stepped through the doors and into the building it was eerily silent."
Dyan deNapoli tells a riveting personal tale of the world's largest volunteer animal rescue that saved over 40,000 penguins after an oil spill off the coast of South Africa. She dispels the belief that all oiled birds should be euthanized and proves that each one of us really can make a difference.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 11:44
TED Translators admin commented on English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | Dyan deNapoli | TEDxBoston | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | Dyan deNapoli | TEDxBoston | ||
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Denise RQ edited English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | Dyan deNapoli | TEDxBoston | ||
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | Dyan deNapoli | TEDxBoston | ||
Denise RQ accepted English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | Dyan deNapoli | TEDxBoston | ||
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for The great penguin rescue | Dyan deNapoli | TEDxBoston |
TED Translators admin
The English transcript was updated on 2/16/2017.