評論
打印
Something else learned during the Apollo rescue was how to train the penguins to take fish freely from their hands, using these training boxes.
此外，阿波羅海(Apollo rescue)的救援還教會我們如何憑借這些訓練箱來訓練企鵝們用手抓魚。
And we used this technique again during the Treasure rescue. But an interesting thing was noted during the training process.
于是這次在“寶藏(Treasure)”號救援中我們又使用了這項技術。在訓練過程中有一件趣事值得一提。
The first penguins to make that transition to free feeding were the ones that had a metal band on their wing from the Apollo Sea spill six years earlier. So penguins learn from previous experience, too.
最早學會自己取食的那批企鵝正是翅膀上戴有金屬條，經歷過六年前阿波羅海漏油事件獲得救助的幸存者。由此看來 企鵝也從先前的經驗中學到了東西。
So all of those penguins had to have the oil meticulously cleaned from their bodies.
救援人員必須小心翼翼地將所有企鵝身上的油污清洗干凈。
It would take two people at least an hour just to clean one penguin. When you clean a penguin, you first have to spray it with a degreaser.
而清洗一只企鵝需要倆人協助至少得花上一個小時。而當你洗凈一只企鵝后，還得馬上給它噴灑脫脂劑。
And this brings me to my favorite story from the Treasure rescue. About a year prior to this oil spill, a 17-year-old student had invented a degreaser.
而這也是在整個“寶藏(Treasure)”號救援行動中我最津津樂道的一段故事。在這次泄油事件發生約一年前，一名17歲的學生發明了一種脫脂劑。
And they'd been using it at SANCCOB with great success, so they began using it during the Treasure rescue.
并且在南非濱海鳥類保育基金會(SANCCOB)試用后獲得了巨大成功，所以這次“寶藏號”事件中救援人員也用那種脫脂劑。
But partway through, they ran out. So in a panic, Estelle from SANCCOB called the student and said, "Please, you have to make more!"
但不一會兒，脫脂劑就用完了。情急之下，保育基金會的埃斯特爾(Estelle)給那個學生打電話求助道：“不得不拜托你再造些脫脂劑。”
So he raced to the lab and made enough to clean the rest of the birds.
然后那個學生就趕到實驗室造了足夠多的脫脂劑來清理余下的企鵝。
So I just think it is the coolest thing that a teenager invented a product that helped save the lives of thousands of animals.
于是我就想，一個少年竟發明了一種產品，拯救了千萬條動物的生命，這未免也太酷了。
So what happened to those 20,000 oiled penguins? And was Silvia Gaus right?
那么那兩萬只企鵝究竟怎樣了呢？希爾維亞·高斯(Silvia Gaus)的理論是否正確呢？
Should we routinely euthanize all oiled birds because most of them are going to die anyway?
我們是否應該以“反正它們終歸會死的”為借口而施以所有這些被油污染的企鵝安樂死呢？
Well, she could not be more wrong. After half a million hours of grueling volunteer labor, more than 90 percent of those oiled penguins were successfully returned to the wild.
事實證明維亞的判斷大錯特錯。在50萬個小時艱辛的救援工作之后，超過90%的被污染企鵝順利返回家園。
And we know from follow-up studies that they have lived just as long as never-oiled penguins, and bred nearly as successfully.
并且通過我們后續的跟蹤調查，這批企鵝活得與那些未被污染的企鵝一般好，其繁殖也幾乎與那些同胞一樣順利。
