Dyan deNapoli

When 19,000 penguins faced death, The Penguin Lady flew from Georgetown to help. Now she tells the tale. "You really wouldn’t want a penguin as a pet", Dyan deNapoli said, laughing as if to add, you have no idea. “They smell to high heaven, and they bite, and they’re not happy if they’re alone. They need to be with lots of other penguins,’’ she said. But deNapoli loves those little birds, despite bearing scars from their razor-sharp beaks. And the adventure of her life came in 2000, when she joined in delivering hands-on care to 19,000 oil-soaked African penguins. Then working at the New England Aquarium, deNapoli was one of the experts who led thousands of volunteers in a desperate rush to save the birds after an oil spill off Cape Town, South Africa, steering the species back from the brink of disaster.