The Great Penguin Rescue

Book excerpt: On June 23, 2000, a ship en route from Brazil to China foundered off the coast of South Africa, spilling 1,300 tons of oil into the ocean and contaminating the habitat of 75,000 penguins. Local conservation officials immediately launched a massive rescue operation, and 12,500 volunteers from around the globe rushed to South Africa in hopes of saving the imperiled birds. Serving as a rehabilitation manager during the initial phase of the three-month effort, Dyan deNapoli--better known as "the Penguin Lady" for her extensive work with penguins--and fellow volunteers de-oiled, nursed back to health, and released into the wild nearly all of the over 19,000 affected birds. Now, at the tenth anniversary of the disaster, deNapoli recounts the extraordinary story of the world's largest and most successful wildlife rescue--From publisher description.