Hi there,
How about a volunteer's inside view of penguin work? Also attached a reply.
Please note the following:
"eina" - pronounced ay-nah - is the Afrikaans equivalent of "ouch" as an
expletive or "sore" as adjective, but with an wince of sympathetic feeling
attached to it.
Remember that penguins eat live fish and have little ability to relate to
the sardines (pilchards) as food so have to be force fed. Some eventually
get it right and start eating for themselves.
For those not in the know - Comrades is the most amazing ultramarathon run
once a year between Durban and Peitermaritzburg - through the hills and
heat - over 80 km and with a usual 15000, but a record 24 000 participants
this year. True top world atheletes do it in under 6 hours (men) and ladies
a bit longer but the bulk of the trained runners make it in the 8 -10 hour
slot and the rest are still straggling in and collapsing after 12 hours.
Everyone suufere physical agony for weeks. The whole country glues itself to
the TV screens and the runners, ethos of the event and supporters on the
roadside make this one of the races that everyone wants to be in. I believe
that the runners do it for fun but I find this hard to believe!!! Spectators
yes - I never miss it - that day is for Comrades viewing only.
Happy reading
Carol de Bruin
Johannesburg
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Ford <>
To: SA Birdnet <>
Date: 08 July 2000 07:42
Subject: An "Instant Expert"
>Hi the Net,
>Just back in Hermanus after my first week down at Salt River Depot, and
>thought I would share a few impressions with you:-
>Day 1 - reported to reception and got kitted out with oilskins, gloves and
>wellies, and was immediately allocated to the first task which all the
>newies go to - scrubbing the portapool liners of guano and re-setting the
>pen with newspaper and matting for the next occupants. However, I soon got
the
>opportunity to be trained in the art of catching and handling the birds,
and
>boy, is this a steep learning curve! You either learn very fast or start
>tallying the "eina" pecks on the left wrist and thumb. If you don't get the
>bird under control pretty fast, they seem to nail you on the same spots
over
>and over, so in about an hour and a half - and more for reasons of
>self-preservation than any other - one becomes an "instant expert" at
>catching and holding these wriggly little varmints.
>Once over the initial mastering of the techniques required, one can
>concentrate on improving so as to cause the birds the least amount of
stress
>in the process.
>By 10h30 was allocated to a feeding team of 3 feeders and 1 carrier. This
>involves entering a designated pen containing about 150 penguins and -
>sitting on an upturned milk crate and with a bucket of sardines alongside -
>proceeding to catch one and immobilise it by means of holding it
>not-so-gently between the thighs and force feed 3 sardines plus one special
>fish containing medication. This process is repeated and repeated and...say
>no more. I had committed to working a double shift each day i.e. from 0800
>to 1800, but had to "retire completely shattered" at 1630.At the end of
this first day,
>i felt just like i did after running my first Comrades!
>Day 2 - As day one but feeding all day. Was placed with 2 ladies who had
>already been going for a week, and felt quite shamed at my comparative
>inefficiency, so - being the MCP that I am - determined to improve my
>technique and speed to match these dextrous Amazons. However, on this day a
>new facto emerged. The sardines arrived frozen solid, due to the huge
demand
>generated by a steadily increasing number of volunteers, thus overwhelming
>the defrosters. Naturally, the ease of inserting a hard-frozen 7" sardine
>down a penguin's Trachea has to be done a great deal more carefully than a
>nice fresh slimy defrosted one. Our pleas for warmer fish went unheeded
>until about 3 hours through the day, when the natural heat of the day did
>the job. Felt a hundred % better at the end of day 2 and made it through to
>1800. YES!!
>Day 3- Went fully mentally prepared for another demanding day of feeding,
>but was hijacked away by the little American lady in charge of the washing
>bays to head up a new team being set up to pre-oil the birds for washing.
>This is the equivalent of a washing-machine pre-wash, by gently spraying
>each bird about to enter the washbays with a light veg oil which acts as a
>solvent and makes the actual washing process much easier. This process
>started off beautifully and - working in pairs - we oiled away merrily. But
>the problem of the oil soon manifested itself, as the oilskins and gloves
>soon get a liberal coating of the veg oil and make control of the now very
>slippery bird
>ever more challenging. However, now having progressed from "newie" to
>"expert" to "2nd day veteran" we were not to be deterred and made it
through
>another demanding but interesting day.
>Day 4- Jeannie from Sacramento allocates me to the drying room to handle
>birds for one of the attending Vets. This room is situated at the end of
the
>washing section and - once the birds have been washed and thoroughly
>rinsed - they are bought through to a room equipped with infra-red dryers
>where the vet handler takes the bird and holds its trachea open for the Vet
>to isert a thin plastic tube into the gut and inject 120mm of glucose
>electrolyte solution for re-hydration, followed by an injection into the
>keel muscle of 5mm of a multi vitamin. The process is completed by the
>fitment of a plastic flipper ring, and the bird is deposited into the
drying
>pen until the following morning when the previous day's output is boxed up
>and transported to SANNCOB, Table View, where they sit out a 2 to 3 week
>period until the birds recover their feather mesh and natural oil/air
>situaion, which will allow them to return to the water - without drowning!
>I was absolutely amazed and impressed by the team spirit, work and
>dedication of everyone there, and also by the unbelievable spectrum of
>different people throwing in whatever time they can spare. I have been
>inspired by this huge effort so much that instead of the original intended
>couple of days I will now be going back for a second week. I can only urge
>everyone who can afford a few days to make the effort. It will certainly
>uplift your spirit, even if it does wreck your forearms.
>The heartbreaking element is, of course, that for evry 500 sent out clean,
a
>1000 new arrivals appear. Nevertheless, there is a light at the end of the
>tunnel, and that is the light of the will to overcome of all those
wonderful
>people involved.
>Cheers for now
>Mike Ford
>
Hi fellow Birdnetters,
Mike Fords report is factual,humerous and 99% accurate.
One small matter needs to be corrected,and I want to add my bit.
When the birds gets their tube feeding at the end of the wash bay session,
the
handler opens the beak so that the vet or animal technician can pass the
stomach
tube into the oesophagus and into the stomach, to deposit the electolyte
solution
in the stomach. The adequate opening of the mouth by Mike allowed the vet to
miss the trachea(windpipe), you want the tube in the stomach and not in the
lungs!
The multivite injection 0.5ml is to help reduce the stress and help keep up
resistance to disease, the birds are used to living in extensive conditions,
and now are crowded together, are oiled and are undernourished.
On the non washing days the birds are force fed with fish, of which one
contains the multivite tab.
Why forcefeed?, the birds are used to hunting the fish in water and dont
know what
to do with an offered fish, some soon learn to take offered fish which makes
the feeding much easier for everyone.
The members from IFAW, International Fund for Animal Welfare are expecting
to be here for 3 months, that is the scale of this rescue operation. They
are running the
Salt River operation, people putting in 18 hours a day, always cheerful and
encouraging and teaching the new volunteers to do their jobs.
I would estimate that less than 50% of volunteers actually handle the
penguins, many
essential jobs that make the rescue work dont require "hands on" with
penguins.
On Saturday just on 500 people worked as volunteers.
Please and do your bit, hands on, and/or send donations, find out what your
company
can do to help.
Mike I will see you next week.
Wendel du Buy
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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