Name: The great penguin rescue
Uploaded: 2011-08-09T15:15:38Z
Duration: 11 min 26 s
Description: The world's largest volunteer animal rescue, saved more than 40,000 penguins after an oil spill off the coast of South Africa. Dyan deNapoli tells the triumphant story. How does a job this big get done? Penguin by penguin by penguin ...

I neglected to say the name of the 17-year-old student who invented the degreaser used on the penguins. It was Louis Kock.


I unfortunately omitted a very important statement here. After saying, "Well, you should care because they're an indicator species," I meant to add, "and 15 of the 18 penguin species on Earth are currently listed as threatened or endangered."

I meant to say "oceanographer" before Sylvia Earle's name. (There may have been some confusion here, due to the fact that the German biologist's first name is also Sylvia.)

The world's largest volunteer animal rescue, saved more than 40,000 penguins after an oil spill off the coast of South Africa. Dyan deNapoli tells the triumphant story. How does a job this big get done? Penguin by penguin by penguin ...

The great penguin rescue

When a massive oil spill threatened nearly half the world’s African penguins, a global volunteer effort rescued over 90 percent of the birds. More than 12,500 volunteers flooded to Cape Town, cleaning and hand-feeding penguins one by one. Innovations like improved transport boxes and a teenager’s homemade degreaser played critical roles. The rescue proved that collective action and practical solutions can overcome even the bleakest odds for endangered species.