Dyan deNapoli: The great penguin rescue

Translator: Rune Sejr Fjord Reviewer: Jonas Tholstrup Christensen

Så længe som jeg kan huske

For as long as I can remember,

I have felt a very deep connection to animals and to the ocean.

Har jeg følt en meget dyb forbindelse

til dyr og til havet,

og i den her alder,

And at this age, my personal idol was Flipper the dolphin.

var mit personlige idol

delfinen Flipper.

And when I first learned about endangered species,

Og da jeg første gang lærte om truede dyrearter,

I was truly distressed to know that every day,

var jeg fortvivlet over at lære

at hver dag blev dyr udslettet fra jordens overflade for evigt,

animals were being wiped off the face of this Earth forever.

And I wanted to do something to help, but I always wondered:

og jeg ville gøre noget for at hjælpe,

men jeg undrede mig altid over:

What could one person possibly do to make a difference?

hvad kunne en person gøre for at gøre en forskel?

And it would be 30 years,

og der ville gå 30 år,

but I would eventually get the answer to that question.

men til sidst ville jeg få svaret på spørgsmålet,

When these heartbreaking images of oiled birds

da disse hjerteskærende billeder af fugle indsmurte i olie

finally began to emerge from the Gulf of Mexico last year

endeligt begyndte at komme frem fra den Mexicanske Golf sidste år,

during the horrific BP oil spill,

under det frygtelige BP oiliespild,

blev en tysk biolog ved navn Silvia Gaus

a German biologist by the name of Silvia Gaus was quoted as saying,

citeret for at sige:

"Vi bør aflive alle olieindsmurte fugle

"We should just euthanize all oiled birds,

because studies have shown

for studier har vist

that fewer than one percent of them survive after being released."

at mindre end en procent af dem

overlever efter at være blevet sluppet fri."

Og jeg kunne ikke være mere uenig,

And I could not disagree more.

In addition,

og oveni det, tror jeg på at ethvert olieindsmurt dyr

I believe that every oiled animal deserves a second chance at life.

fortjener endnu en chance i livet.

And I want to tell you why I feel so strongly about this.

Og jeg vil fortælle jer

hvorfor jeg føler så stærkt for det her.

On June 23, 2000,

Den 23. juni, 2000,

a ship named the Treasure sank off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa,

sank et skib ved navn Treasure

udfor kysten af Capetown, Sydafrika,

spilling 1,300 tons of fuel,

og spildte 1.300 ton brændstof,

which polluted the habitats of nearly half the entire world population

som forurenede levestederne

for næsten halvdelen af alle verdens

afrikanske pingviner.

of African penguins.

Now, the ship sank between Robben Island to the south,

Skibet sank imellem Robben Island imod syd

and Dassen Island to the north --

og Dassen Island imod nord,

two of the penguins' main breeding islands.

og disse øer er to af pingvinernes vigtigste ynglepladser.

And exactly six years and three days earlier,

Præcist seks år og tre dage tidligere

den 20. juni, 1994

on June 20, 1994,

Sank et skib ved navn Apollo Sea nær Dassen Island,

a ship named the Apollo Sea sank near Dassen Island,

oiling 10,000 penguins, half of which died.

og indsmurte 10.000 pingviner i olie --

hvoraf halvdelen døde.

Now when the Treasure sank in 2000,

Da Treasure sank i 2000,

it was the height of the best breeding season

var det på højdepunket af den bedste ynglesæson

scientists had ever recorded for the African penguin,

forskere nogensinde havde registreret for den afrikanske pingvin --

som på det tidspunkt var listet som en truet dyreart.

which at the time, was listed as a threatened species.

Snart var næsten 20.000 pingviner

And soon, nearly 20,000 penguins

were covered with this toxic oil.

dækket i denne giftige olie,

The local seabird rescue center, named SANCCOB,

og det lokale havfugle redningscenter ved navn SANCCOB,

immediately launched a massive rescue operation,

søsatte med det samme en massiv redningsoperation --

and this soon would become the largest animal rescue ever undertaken.

og dette ville hurtigt blive

den største dyreredning nogensinde igangsat.

At the time, I was working down the street.

Dengang arbejdede jeg længere nede af gaden her,

I was a penguin aquarist at the New England Aquarium.

jeg var en pingvinpasser hos New England Aquarium,

And exactly 11 years ago yesterday,

og for præcist 11 år siden i går,

the phone rang in the penguin office.

ringede telefonen i pingvinkontoret.

And with that call, my life would change forever.

Med det opkald ville mit liv blive forandret,

It was Estelle van Der Merwe calling from SANCCOB,

Det var Estelle van der Meer der ringede fra SANCCOB,

saying, "Please come help.

og sagde "Kom og hjælp os.

We have thousands of oiled penguins

Vi har tusinder af olieindsmurte pingviner

og tusinder af villige,

and thousands of willing but completely inexperienced volunteers.

men fuldstændigt uerfarne, frivillige,

And we need penguin experts to come train and supervise them."

og vi har brug for pingvin eksperter til at komme og træne og føre opsyn med dem."

Så to dage senere,

So two days later,

I was on a plane headed for Cape Town

var jeg på et fly på vej imod Capetown,

with a team of penguin specialists.

med et hold af pingvin specialister,

And the scene inside of this building was devastating and surreal.

og scenen inde i denne bygning

var knusende og uvirkelig.

In fact, many people compared it to a war zone.

Faktisk sammenlignede mange folk det med en krigszone,

Last week, a 10-year-old girl asked me:

og sidste uge, spurgte en 10-årig pige mig:

"What did it feel like when you first walked into that building

"Hvordan føltes det

da du første gang gik ind i den bygning

and saw so many oiled penguins?"

og så de mange olieindsmurte pingviner?"

And this is what happened.

og det her er hvad der skete.

I was instantly transported back to that moment in time.

Jeg var øjeblikkeligt transporteret

tilbage til dét tidspunkt,

Pingviner er meget snakkende fugle

Penguins are very vocal birds and really, really noisy,

og virkeligt, virkeligt larmende.

Så jeg forventede at gå ind i den her bygning

so I expected to walk into this building

and be met with this cacophony of honking and braying and squawking.

og blive mødt af en mur

af hylen, brægen og skræppen

But instead,

men i stedet,

when we stepped through those doors and into the building,

da vi trådte igennem de døre og ind i bygningen,

it was eerily silent.

var det uhyggeligt stille.

So it was very clear

Så det stod meget klart

these were stressed, sick, traumatized birds.

at dette var stressede, syge og traumatiserede fugle.

En anden ting der var slående

The other thing that was so striking

was the sheer number of volunteers.

var det store antal frivillige

op til 1.000 personer om dagen

Up to 1,000 people a day came to the rescue center.

kom der til redningscentret.

og over tid, igennem denne redning,

Eventually, over the course of this rescue,

more than 12-and-a-half thousand volunteers

kom der mere end tolv et halvt tusinde frivillige

came from all over the world to Cape Town,

fra hele verden til Capetown

for at redde disse fugle.

to help save these birds.

And the amazing thing was that not one of them had to be there.

og den fantastiske ting

var at ikke en af dem var nødt til at være der --

men der var de.

Yet they were.

So for the few of us that were there in a professional capacity,

Så for de få af os der var der som professionelle,

this extraordinary volunteer response to this animal crisis

var denne ekstraordinære frivillige respons

på denne dyrekrise

was profoundly moving and awe-inspiring.

dybt bevægende og ærefrygtindgydende.

So the day after we arrived,

Dagen efter vi ankom,

two of us from the aquarium were put in charge of room two.

blev to af os fra akvariet sat til at lede rum to

Room two had more than 4,000 oiled penguins in it.

og i rum to var der mere end 4.000 olieindsmurte pingviner.

Now, mind you --

Husk nu på at tre dage tidligere,

three days earlier, we had 60 penguins under our care,

havde vi 60 pingviner at tage os af.

so we were definitely overwhelmed

Så vi var afgjort overvældede,

og bare en smule skræmte -- eller jeg var i hvert falde.

and just a bit terrified -- at least I was.

Personligt vidste jeg ikke rigtigt

Personally, I really didn't know

om jeg var i stand til at håndtere

if I was capable of handling such a monstrous task.

en så gigantisk opgave,

og kollektivt

And collectively,

we really didn't know if we could pull this off.

vidste vi ikke rigtigt om vi kunne klare det.

Because we all knew that just six years earlier,

For alle vidste

at blot seks år tidligere,

half as many penguins had been oiled and rescued,

var halvt så mange pingviner blevet olieindsmurt og reddet

og kun halvdelen af dem havde overlevet.

and only half of them had survived.

Så ville det være muligt

So would it be humanly possible to save this many oiled penguins?

at redde så mange olieindsmurte pingviner?

Det vidste vi simpelthen bare ikke

We just did not know.

men det der gav os håb

But what gave us hope

var at disse utroligt dedikerede og modige frivillige --

were these incredibly dedicated and brave volunteers,

three of whom here are force-feeding penguins.

Tre af dem ses her imens de tvangsfodrer pingviner.

You may notice they're wearing very thick gloves.

I bemærker måske at de har meget tykke handsker på.

And what you should know about African penguins

En ting i skal vide om afrikanske pingviner

is that they have razor-sharp beaks.

er at de har næb der er skarpe som barberblade

og inden længe,

And before long,

our bodies were covered head to toe

var vores kroppe dækket fra top til tå

med disse grimme sår,

with these nasty wounds inflicted by the terrified penguins.

påført af de skrækslagne pingviner.

Dagen efter vi ankom

Now the day after we arrived, a new crisis began to unfold.

begyndte en ny krise at udvikle sig,

The oil slick was now moving north towards Dassen Island,

oliespildet bevægede sig nu mod nord imod Dassen Island,

and the rescuers despaired,

og redderne var fortvivlede,

because they knew if the oil hit,

for de vidste at hvis olien ramte,

it would not be possible to rescue any more oiled birds.

ville det ikke være muligt at redde flere olieindsmurte fugle,

And there really were no good solutions.

og der var virkeligt ikke nogen gode løsninger

But then finally,

men til sidst,

one of the researchers threw out this crazy idea.

kom en af forskerne med en skør ide.

He said, "OK, why don't we try and collect the birds

Han sagde "Okay, hvorfor prøver vi ikke at samle

de fugle der har størst risiko for at blive smurt ind i olie" --

at the greatest risk of getting oiled" --

de samlede 20.000 --

they collected 20,000 --

"og så fragter vi dem 800 km op af kysten

"and we'll ship them 500 miles up the coast to Port Elizabeth

til Port Elizabeth i åbne lastbiler

in these open-air trucks,

og sætter dem fri i det rene vand der

and release them into the clean waters there

og lader dem svømme hjem igen."

and let them swim back home?"

(Laughter)

(Latter)

So three of those penguins -- Peter, Pamela and Percy --

Så tre af de pingviner -- Peter, Pamela og Percy --

bar satellitsendere,

wore satellite tags,

and the researchers crossed their fingers

og forskerne krydsede deres fingre og håbede

and hoped that by the time they got back home,

at når pingvinerne nåede hjem igen,

ville olien være renset fra deres ø.

the oil would be cleaned up from their islands.

og heldigvis, på dagen hvor de ankom,

And luckily, the day they arrived, it was.

var den væk.

So it had been a huge gamble, but it had paid off.

Så det havde været et enormt sats, men det havde betalt sig,

og så ved de nu

And so they know now that they can use this strategy

at de kan bruge denne strategi

in future oil spills.

i fremtidige oliespild.

So in wildlife rescue as in life,

Så i redning af vilde dyr, som i livet,

we learn from each previous experience,

lærer vi fra tidligere erfaringer,

and we learn from both our successes and our failures.

og vi lærer både fra vores succeser

og vores nederlag.

Den primære lære

And the main thing learned during the Apollo Sea rescue in '94

under Apollo Sea redningen i '94

was that most of those penguins had died due to the unwitting use

var at de fleste af pingvinerne døde

på grund af den intetanende brug

of poorly ventilated transport boxes and trucks,

af dårligt ventilerede

transportkasser og biler --

because they just had not been prepared

fordi de simpelthen bare ikke havde været forberedte på

to deal with so many oiled penguins at once.

at håndtere så mange olieindsmurte pingviner på en gang.

So in these six years between these two oil spills,

Så i de seks år imellem de to oliespild,

they've built thousands of these well-ventilated boxes.

byggede de tusinder af disse velventilerede kasser,

And as a result, during the Treasure rescue,

og som resultat, under Treasure redningen,

just 160 penguins died during the transport process,

døde der kun 160 pingviner

under transport processen,

as opposed to 5,000.

i modsætning til 5.000.

So this alone was a huge victory.

Dette alene var en stor sejr.

Noget andet lært under Apollo redningen

Something else learned during the Apollo rescue

var hvordan man træner pingvinerne

was how to train the penguins

to take fish freely from their hands,

til at tage fisk direkte fra hænderne,

using these training boxes.

ved hjælp af disse træningsbokse,

And we used this technique again during the Treasure rescue.

og vi brugte denne teknik igen

under Treasure redningen.

But an interesting thing was noted during the training process.

Men en interessant ting blev bemærket

under træningsprocessen,

The first penguins to make that transition to free feeding

de første pingviner

til at gå over til den frie fodring,

were the ones that had a metal band on their wing

var dem der havde et metalbånd på deres vinge

from the Apollo Sea spill six years earlier.

fra Apollo Sea spildet seks år tidligere.

So penguins learn from previous experience, too.

Så pingviner lærer

også fra tidligere erfaringer.

Så alle de pingviner

So all of those penguins had to have the oil meticulously cleaned

skulle have deres kroppe omhyggeligt renset for olie,

from their bodies.

og det ville tage to folk mindst en time,

It would take two people at least an hour just to clean one penguin.

bare at rense en pingvin,

When you clean a penguin,

og når du renser en pingvin

you first have to spray it with a degreaser.

skal du først sprøjte den med en affedter,

And this brings me to my favorite story from the Treasure rescue.

og dette bringer mig til min yndlings historie

fra Treasure redningen.

About a year prior to this oil spill,

Omkring et år før oliespildet,

havde en 17 årig studerende

a 17-year-old student had invented a degreaser.

opfundet en affedter,

And they'd been using it at SANCCOB with great success,

og de havde brugt den hos SANCCOB med stor succes,

so they began using it during the Treasure rescue.

så de begyndte at bruge den under Treasure redningen

But partway through, they ran out.

men et stykke inde løb de tør,

So in a panic, Estelle from SANCCOB called the student

så i panik ringede Estelle fra SANCCOB til den studerende

and said, "Please, you have to make more!"

og sagde "Du bliver nødt til at lave mere."

So he raced to the lab

Så han skyndte sig til laboratoriet

and made enough to clean the rest of the birds.

og lavede nok til at rense resten af fuglene.

So I just think it is the coolest thing

Jeg synes bare at det er det sejeste

that a teenager invented a product

at en teenager

opfandt et produkt

that helped save the lives of thousands of animals.

der hjalp med at redde livene

for tusinder af dyr.

So what happened to those 20,000 oiled penguins?

Så hvad skete der med de 20.000 olieindsmurte pingviner?

Og havde Silvia Gaus ret?

And was Silvia Gaus right?

Burde vi rutinemæssigt aflive

Should we routinely euthanize all oiled birds

alle olieindsmurte fugle

because most of them are going to die anyway?

fordi de fleste ville dø alligevel?

Well, she could not be more wrong.

Hun kunne ikke have taget mere fejl,

After half a million hours of grueling volunteer labor,

efter en halv million timer

hårdt frivilligt arbejde,

more than 90 percent of those oiled penguins

blev mere end 90 procent af de olieindsmurte pingviner

were successfully returned to the wild.

succesfuldt sat fri igen,

And we know from follow-up studies

og vi ved fra opfølgende studier

that they have lived just as long as never-oiled penguins,

at de har levet ligeså længe

som pingviner der aldrig har været indsmurte,

og forplantede sig næsten ligeså succesfuld.

and bred nearly as successfully.

And in addition,

udover det, blev omkring 3.000 pingvinunger

about 3,000 penguin chicks were rescued and hand raised.

reddet og håndfodret,

And again, we know from long-term monitoring

og igen ved vi fra langtidsstudier

that more of these hand-raised chicks survive to adulthood and breeding age

at flere af disse håndfodrede unger

overlever til modenhed

end forældre-opfostrede unger.

than do parent-raised chicks.

Så med denne viden

Armed with this knowledge, SANCCOB has a chick-bolstering project,

har SANCCOB et projekt til at styrke ungerne,

and every year, they rescue and raise abandoned chicks,

og hvert år redder og opfostrer de forladte unger

and they have a very impressive, 80 percent success rate.

og de har en meget imponerende

succesrate på 80 procent.

This is critically important,

Dette er meget vigtigt

because one year ago,

for for et år siden

the African penguin was declared endangered.

blev den afrikanske pingvin erklæret udrydningstruet.

og de kan være uddøde

And they could be extinct in less than 10 years

om mindre end 10 år,

hvis vi ikke gøre noget nu for at beskytte dem.

if we don't do something now to protect them.

So what did I learn

Så hvad lærte vi

from this intense and unforgettable experience?

fra denne intense og uforglemmelige oplevelse?

Personally, I learned that I am capable of handling so much more

Personligt lærte jeg

at jeg er i stand til at håndtere meget mere end jeg nogensinde havde drømt om,

than I ever dreamed possible.

And I learned that one person can make a huge difference.

og jeg lærte at en person

kan gøre en kæmpestor forskel.

Just look at that 17-year-old.

Bare se på den 17-årige.

And when we come together and work as one,

Og når vi finder sammen

og arbejder sammen,

we can achieve extraordinary things.

kan vi opnå utrolige ting.

Og det at være en del af noget

And truly, to be a part of something so much larger than yourself

så meget større end en selv

er den mest belønnende oplevelse

is the most rewarding experience you can possibly have.

du overhovedet kan have.

So I'd like to leave you with one final thought

Så jeg vil gerne efterlade jer med en sidste tanke,

og en udfordring, hvis i tillader det.

and a challenge, if you will.

My mission as The Penguin Lady is to raise awareness and funding

Min mission som pingvindamen

er at skabe opmærksomhed om og midler til

-at beskytte pingviner.

to protect penguins.

Men hvorfor skulle nogen af os bekymre sig om pingviner?

But why should any of you care about penguins?

Well, you should care because they're an indicator species.

I skulle bekymre jer

fordi de er en indikator art,

And simply put: if penguins are dying, it means our oceans are dying.

og simpelt sagt, hvis pingvinerne er døende,

betyder det at vores have er døende,

And we ultimately will be affected,

og ultimativ vil vi blive ramt,

because, as Sylvia Earle says,

for som Sylvia Earle siger:

"The oceans are our life-support system."

"Havene er vores livsgivende system."

And the two main threats to penguins today

og de to hovedtrusler til pingviner i dag

are overfishing and global warming.

er overfiskning og global opvarmning,

og dette er to ting

And these are two things

that each one of us actually has the power to do something about.

som hver enkelt af os

faktisk har magten til at gøre noget ved.

Så hvis hver af os gør vores del

So if we each do our part, together, we can make a difference,

kan vi sammen gøre en forskel,

and we can help keep penguins from going extinct.

og vi kan hjælpe med til at pingvinerne ikke uddør

Humans have always been the greatest threat to penguins,

mennesker har altid været den største trussel for pingviner,

men nu er vi deres eneste håb.

but we are now their only hope.

Mange tak

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Klapsalver)