Dyan deNapoli: The great penguin rescue

Translator: Kim Turk Križanec Reviewer: Tilen Pigac - EFZG

Od kar pomnim,

For as long as I can remember,

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

čutim zelo močno povezavo

z živalmi in morjem.

Pri teh letih

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

je bil moj osebni idol

delfin Fliper.

And when I first learned about endangered species,

Ko sem se prvič srečala z ogroženimi živalmi,

I was truly distressed to know that every day,

sem bila resnično pretresena,

da so vsak dan živali za vedno izbrisane z obličja Zemlje.

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

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

In želela sem nekako pomagati,

a sem se vedno spraševala

What could one person possibly do to make a difference?

kaj sploh lahko naredi posameznik, da nekaj spremeni?

And it would be 30 years,

Potrebnih je bilo 30 let,

but I would eventually get the answer to that question.

a končno sem dobila odgovor na svoje vprašanje.

When these heartbreaking images of oiled birds

Ko so te srce parajoče slike ptic prekritih z nafto

finally began to emerge from the Gulf of Mexico last year

končno začele prihajati iz Mehiškega zaliva

during the horrific BP oil spill,

med grozljivim BP-jevim razlitjem nafte,

je nemška biologinja, ki sliši na ime Silvia Gaus,

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

rekla,

"Vse z nafto prekrite ptice bi morali evtanizirati,

"We should just euthanize all oiled birds,

because studies have shown

saj raziskave kažejo,

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

da jih manj kot en odstotek

po izpustitvi preživi".

Ne bi se mogla manj strinjati.

And I could not disagree more.

In addition,

Poleg tega pa verjamem, da vsaka z nafto prekrita žival

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

v življenju zasluži drugo priložnost.

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

In rada bi vam povedala

zakaj imam ob tem tako močna čustva.

On June 23, 2000,

23. junija 2000,

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

je ladja imenovana Treasure (Zaklad)

potonila ob obali Capetowna v Južni Afriki,

spilling 1,300 tons of fuel,

kar je povzročilo izliv 1.300 ton goriva,

which polluted the habitats of nearly half the entire world population

ki je onesnažilo življenski prostor

skoraj celotne svetovne populacije

Afriških pingvinov.

of African penguins.

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

Ladja je potonila med otokom Robben na jugu

and Dassen Island to the north --

in otokom Dassen na severu.

two of the penguins' main breeding islands.

In ta otoka sta dva ključna za parjenje pingvinov.

And exactly six years and three days earlier,

Natančno šest let in tri dni pred tem,

20 junija 1994,

on June 20, 1994,

je blizu otoka Dassen potonila ladja z imenom Apollo Sea

a ship named the Apollo Sea sank near Dassen Island,

oiling 10,000 penguins, half of which died.

in z nafto prekrila 10.000 pingvinov --

polovica jih je poginila.

Now when the Treasure sank in 2000,

Ko je leta 2000 potonil Treasure,

it was the height of the best breeding season

je bila na višku najboljša sezona parjenja

scientists had ever recorded for the African penguin,

kar so jih znanstveniki kdaj zabeležili pri Afriškem pingvinu --

ta je bil v tistem času na seznamu ogroženih vrst.

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

In kmalu je bilo skoraj 20.000 pingvinov

And soon, nearly 20,000 penguins

were covered with this toxic oil.

prekritih s strupeno nafto.

The local seabird rescue center, named SANCCOB,

Lokalni reševalni center za morske ptice SANCCOB

immediately launched a massive rescue operation,

je takoj začel množično reševalno akcijo --

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

in ta je kmalu postala

največja reševalna akcija živali, ki je bila kdajkoli izvedena.

At the time, I was working down the street.

V tem času, sem delala v bližini.

I was a penguin aquarist at the New England Aquarium.

Bila sem akvaristka za pingvine v akvariju New England Aquarium.

And exactly 11 years ago yesterday,

In včeraj natančno 11 let nazaj

the phone rang in the penguin office.

je zazvonil telefon v "pingvinji" pisarni.

And with that call, my life would change forever.

In s tem klicem, se mi je življenje za zmeraj spremenilo.

It was Estelle van Der Merwe calling from SANCCOB,

Iz SANCCOB-a me je klicala Estelle van der Mer,

saying, "Please come help.

in rekla: " Prosim pridi pomagat.

We have thousands of oiled penguins

Imamo na tisoče z nafto prekritih pingvinov

in na tisoče pripravljenih,

and thousands of willing but completely inexperienced volunteers.

a popolno neizkušenih prostovoljcev.

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

In potrebujemo strokovnjake za pingvine, ki bodo prišli, jih izobrazili in nadzorovali".

Dva dni kasneje,

So two days later,

I was on a plane headed for Cape Town

sem bila na letalu namenjenem v Capetown

with a team of penguin specialists.

s skupino strokovnjakov za pingvine.

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

Prizor znotraj stavbe

je bil pretresljiv in surrealen.

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

Dejansko ga je veliko ljudi takrat primerjalo z vojnim območjem.

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

Prejšnji teden me je 10-letna deklica vprašala:

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

"Kako si se počutila,

ko si prvič stopila v tisto stavbo

and saw so many oiled penguins?"

in videla toliko z nafto prekritih pingvinov?"

And this is what happened.

Tako se je zgodilo.

I was instantly transported back to that moment in time.

V trenutku sem odpotovala

nazaj v tisti trenutek.

Pingvini so zelo glasne ptice

Penguins are very vocal birds and really, really noisy,

in so res, res hrupni.

In pričakovala sem, da bom vstopila v tisto stavbo

so I expected to walk into this building

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

in se srečala s kakofonijo

gaganja in riganja in vreščanja,

But instead,

ampak namesto tega

when we stepped through those doors and into the building,

je bilo ob našem vstopu skozi vrata v stavbo

it was eerily silent.

grozljivo tiho.

So it was very clear

Tako je bilo zelo jasno,

these were stressed, sick, traumatized birds.

da so ptice pod stresom, bolne in traumatizirane.

Druga stvar, ki je bila tako osupljiva,

The other thing that was so striking

was the sheer number of volunteers.

je bilo samo število prostovoljcev.

Do 1.000 ljudi na dan

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

je prišlo v reševalni center.

In na koncu je tekom reševanja

Eventually, over the course of this rescue,

more than 12-and-a-half thousand volunteers

več kot 12.500 prostovoljcev

came from all over the world to Cape Town,

prišlo iz celega sveta v Capetown

in pomagalo reševati te ptice.

to help save these birds.

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

In neverjetno je to,

da prav nobenemu od njih ni bilo treba biti tam --

pa so vseeno bili.

Yet they were.

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

Tako je bil za nekaj tistih, ki smo bili tam kot strokovnjaki,

this extraordinary volunteer response to this animal crisis

ta neverjeten odziv prostovoljcev

na stisko živali,

was profoundly moving and awe-inspiring.

zelo ganljiv in osupljiv.

So the day after we arrived,

Po prihodu naslednji dan,

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

so tako naju dva iz akvarija zadolžili za sobo dve.

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

V sobi dve je bilo več kot 4.000 z nafto prekritih pingvinov.

Now, mind you --

Zdaj si pa zamislite, tri dni pred tem,

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

sva skrbela za 60 pingvinov.

so we were definitely overwhelmed

Seveda sva bila zagotovo preobremenjena

in malo tudi preplašena -- no vsaj jaz sem bila.

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

Osebno res nisem vedela,

Personally, I really didn't know

če bom sposobna spoprijeti se

if I was capable of handling such a monstrous task.

s tako ogromno nalogo.

In kolektivno

And collectively,

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

res nismo vedeli, če nam bo uspelo.

Because we all knew that just six years earlier,

Vsi smo namreč vedeli,

da je bilo le šest let pred tem,

half as many penguins had been oiled and rescued,

pol toliko pingvinov prekritih z nafto in rešenih,

preživela pa jih je le polovica.

and only half of them had survived.

Torej bi bilo sploh mogoče

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

rešiti toliko z nafto prekritih pingvinov?

Enostavno nismo vedeli.

We just did not know.

A kar nam je dajalo upanje,

But what gave us hope

so bili ti neverjetno zavzeti in pogumni prostovoljci --

were these incredibly dedicated and brave volunteers,

three of whom here are force-feeding penguins.

trije, ki jih vidite tukaj, na silo hranijo pingvine.

You may notice they're wearing very thick gloves.

In lahko opazite, da nosijo zelo debele rokavice.

And what you should know about African penguins

Kar morate namreč vedeti o Afriških pingvinih je,

is that they have razor-sharp beaks.

da imajo kot britev ostre kljune.

In ni dolgo trajalo preden

And before long,

our bodies were covered head to toe

so bila naše telesa od glave do pet prekrita

s temi hudimi ranami,

with these nasty wounds inflicted by the terrified penguins.

ki so nam jih prizadejali prestrašeni pingvini.

Dan po našem prihodu

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

se je začela razvijati nova kriza.

The oil slick was now moving north towards Dassen Island,

Naftni madež se je začel premikati severno proti otoku Dassen,

and the rescuers despaired,

in reševalci so začeli izgubljati upanje,

because they knew if the oil hit,

saj so vedeli, da bi bilo v primeru, da bi nafta dosegla obalo,

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

nemogoče rešiti še kakšno z nafto prekrito ptico.

And there really were no good solutions.

In resnično ni bilo nobenih dobrih rešitev.

But then finally,

A potem je končno

one of the researchers threw out this crazy idea.

eden izmed raziskovalcev na dan prišel z noro idejo.

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

Rekel je: "Ok, zakaj ne poskusimo zbrati

ptičev, ki jim grozi največje tveganje, da bi jih prekrila nafta" --

at the greatest risk of getting oiled" --

zbrali so jih 20.000 --

they collected 20,000 --

"jih prepeljemo 500 milj vzdolž obale

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

do Port Elizabetha na odprtih tovornjakih,

in these open-air trucks,

in jih tam spustimo v čiste vode,

and release them into the clean waters there

da odplavajo nazaj domov".

and let them swim back home?"

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

Trije izmed teh pingvinov -- Peter, Pamela in Percy --

so imeli satelitske oddajnike.

wore satellite tags,

and the researchers crossed their fingers

Raziskovalci so držali pesti in upali,

and hoped that by the time they got back home,

da bo do takrat, ko se vrnejo domov,

njihov otok že očiščen nafte.

the oil would be cleaned up from their islands.

In na srečo, je na dan njihovega prihoda,

And luckily, the day they arrived, it was.

res bilo tako.

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

Šlo je torej za veliko tveganje, ki pa se je izplačalo.

In tako zdaj vedo,

And so they know now that they can use this strategy

da lahko uporabijo to strategijo

in future oil spills.

ob prihodnjih naftnih izlivih.

So in wildlife rescue as in life,

Tako je pri reševanju divjih živali in tako je v življenju,

we learn from each previous experience,

učimo se iz svojih preteklih izkušenj,

and we learn from both our successes and our failures.

tako iz svojih uspehov

kot porazov.

In glavna stvar, ki smo se je naučili

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

med reševanjem razlitja Apollo Sea leta 1994,

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

je bila, da je večina pingvinov poginila,

zaradi nenamerne uporabe

of poorly ventilated transport boxes and trucks,

slabo prezračenih

škatel za transport in tovornjakov --

because they just had not been prepared

ker enostavno niso bili pripravljeni

to deal with so many oiled penguins at once.

na hkratno reševanje tolikšnega števila z nafto prekritih pingvinov.

So in these six years between these two oil spills,

V teh šestih letih med obema razlitjema,

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

so tako zgradili na tisoče škatel z boljšim prezračevanjem.

And as a result, during the Treasure rescue,

Kot rezultat je med reševanjem razlitja z ladje Treasure

just 160 penguins died during the transport process,

poginilo le 160 pingvinov

med prevozom,

as opposed to 5,000.

v nasprotju s 5.000.

So this alone was a huge victory.

Že samo to je bila velika zmaga.

Med reševanjem Apolla so se naučili tudi

Something else learned during the Apollo rescue

kako zdresirati pingvine,

was how to train the penguins

to take fish freely from their hands,

da iz roke prosto vzamejo ribe,

using these training boxes.

z uporabo teh škatel.

And we used this technique again during the Treasure rescue.

Te tehnike smo ponovno uporabili

med reševanjem Treasura.

But an interesting thing was noted during the training process.

Ugotovili pa smo zanimivo dejstvo

med procesom dresure.

The first penguins to make that transition to free feeding

Prvi pingvini,

ki so opravili prehod na prosto hranjenje,

were the ones that had a metal band on their wing

so bili tisti, ki so imeli na svojem krilu kovinski obroček

from the Apollo Sea spill six years earlier.

iz razlitja Apollo Sea pred šestimi leti.

So penguins learn from previous experience, too.

Pingvini se tako učijo

iz preteklih izkušenj.

Vsem tem pingvinom

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

so morali tako natančno in skrbno očistiti nafto iz njihovih teles.

from their bodies.

Dva človeka sta potrebovala vsaj eno uro,

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

da sta očistila enega pingvina.

When you clean a penguin,

In ko čistiš pingvina,

you first have to spray it with a degreaser.

ga moraš najprej poškropiti z razmaščevalcem.

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

In to me pripelje do moje najljubše zgodbe

iz Treasurjevega reševanja.

About a year prior to this oil spill,

Kakšno leto pred tem razlitjem nafte

je 17-letni dijak

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

izumil razmaščevalec.

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

V SANCCOB-u so ga zelo uspešno uporabljali,

so they began using it during the Treasure rescue.

zato so ga začeli uporabljati tudi med Treasurjevim reševanjem.

But partway through, they ran out.

Ampak vmes jim ga je zmanjkalo.

So in a panic, Estelle from SANCCOB called the student

V vsej paniki je tako Estelle iz SANCCOB-a poklicala dijaka

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

in rekla: "Prosim moraš narediti več razmaščevalca".

So he raced to the lab

Tako je odhitel v laboratorij

and made enough to clean the rest of the birds.

in ga naredil dovolj za preostale ptice.

So I just think it is the coolest thing

Najbolj kul se mi zdi,

that a teenager invented a product

da je najstnik

izumil proizvod,

that helped save the lives of thousands of animals.

ki je pomagal rešiti življenja

tisočih živali.

So what happened to those 20,000 oiled penguins?

In kaj se je zgodilo s tistimi 20.000 z nafto prekritih pingvinov?

In je imela Silvia Gaus prav?

And was Silvia Gaus right?

Naj rutinsko evtaniziramo

Should we routinely euthanize all oiled birds

vse z nafto prekrite ptice,

because most of them are going to die anyway?

ker jih bo večina tako ali tako poginila?

Well, she could not be more wrong.

No, ne bi se mogla bolj motiti.

After half a million hours of grueling volunteer labor,

Po pol milijona ur

napornega prostovoljnega dela,

more than 90 percent of those oiled penguins

je več kot 90 odstotkov tistih z nafto prekritih pingvinov

were successfully returned to the wild.

bilo uspešno vrnjenih v divjino.

And we know from follow-up studies

In iz nadaljnjih študij vemo,

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

da so živeli ravno tako dolgo

kot tisti pingvini, ki z nafto nikoli niso bili prekriti,

in tudi parili so se skoraj tako uspešno.

and bred nearly as successfully.

And in addition,

Poleg tega je bilo okoli 3.000 pingvinjih mladičev

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

rešenih in vzrejenih v zavetišču.

And again, we know from long-term monitoring

In spet, iz dolgoročnega opazovanja vemo,

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

da več teh v zavetišču vzgojenih mladičev

preživi do odraslosti in paritvene starosti

kot tistih mladičev, ki jih vzrejajo starši.

than do parent-raised chicks.

Tako ima opremljen s tem znanjem

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

SANCCOB program vzreje in krepitve mladičev.

and every year, they rescue and raise abandoned chicks,

In vsako leto rešujejo in vzgajajo zapuščene mladiče.

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

In dosegajo zelo impresivno

80 odstotno uspešnost.

This is critically important,

To je ključnega pomena

because one year ago,

zato, ker je bil pred enim letom

the African penguin was declared endangered.

Afriški pingvin razglašen za ogroženega.

In lahko izumre

And they could be extinct in less than 10 years

v manj kot desetih letih,

če sedaj ne bomo storili nekaj, da ga zavarujemo.

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

So what did I learn

Kaj sem se torej naučila

from this intense and unforgettable experience?

iz te intenzivne in nepozabne izkušnje?

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

Osebno sem se naučila,

da sem zmožna veliko več kot sem kdaj koli sanjala, da je mogoče.

than I ever dreamed possible.

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

In naučila sem se, da en sam človek

lahko naredi veliko razliko.

Just look at that 17-year-old.

Samo poglejte tistega 17-letnika.

And when we come together and work as one,

In ko stopimo skupaj

in delamo kot eden,

we can achieve extraordinary things.

lahko dosežemo neverjetne stvari.

In resnično, da si del nečesa,

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

kar je mnogo večje od tebe samega,

je najbolj dragocena izkušnja,

is the most rewarding experience you can possibly have.

ki jo sploh lahko dobiš.

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

Tako vas bi rad pustila z eno samo zadnjo mislijo

in izzivom, če želite.

and a challenge, if you will.

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

Moja misija pingvinje dame

je ozeveščati in iskati finaciranje

za zaščito pingvinov,

to protect penguins.

a zakaj bi vas sploh moralo skrbeti za pingvine?

But why should any of you care about penguins?

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

No, skrbeti bi vas moralo,

ker so kazalna vrsta.

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

Povedano preprosto, če umirajo pingvini,

to pomeni, da umirajo naša morja,

And we ultimately will be affected,

in to nas bo na koncu prizadelo,

because, as Sylvia Earle says,

saj so, kot pravi Sylvia Earle

"The oceans are our life-support system."

"oceani naš naravni sistem za ohranjanje življenja".

And the two main threats to penguins today

In glavni dve grožnji pingvinom danes

are overfishing and global warming.

sta prekomerni ribolov in globalno segrevanje.

In to sta dve stvari,

And these are two things

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

kjer ima vsak izmed nas

dejansko moč, da nekaj naredi.

Tako lahko, če vsak naredi svoj del,

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

skupaj nekaj spremenimo

and we can help keep penguins from going extinct.

in lahko pomagamo pingvinom, da ne bodo izumrli.

Humans have always been the greatest threat to penguins,

Ljudje smo od nekdaj najhujša grožnja pingvinom,

zdaj pa smo tudi njihovo edino upanje.

but we are now their only hope.

Hvala.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)