The Great Penguin Rescue

Michaela Strachan is working to graduate as a volunteer at the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB); Michaela needs to master difficult skills including feeding both the powerful adult penguins and helpless chicks.

Michaela Strachan is still desperately trying to learn the ropes as a volunteer at SANCCOB in Cape Town; none of the tasks are easy, as the seemingly cute penguins are feisty and Michaela ends up covered in bites and scratches.

New arrivals are flooding into SANCCOB for the chick bolstering project; the latest batch has come from Dyer Island and surrounding colonies, where their parents have abandoned them.

Michaela meets Betty's Bay penguin colony manager Cuan to collect abandoned chicks, and she feels a certain bond with two penguins, whom she names Stony and Betty.

Michaela faces her Achilles' heel: tube feeding the penguins; tube feeding is a difficult task, which can stress the birds, or kill them if done wrong.

Michaela gets some bad news, but Betty has become a plump and healthy blue, ready for release.