Amazing Penguin Story

[hoegaandit]

An Emperor Penguin (the biggest penguins, about a yard high, which live in the Antarctic) somehow got lost and after a swim of several thousand miles turned up on a beach about 35 miles north of us, where we have sometimes walked with the Big Boy. It is only the second time in 44 years that one of these birds has been seen in New Zealand.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/kapiti-coast-penguin-attracts-world-wide-attention-4258356/video

Unfortunately although it is winter here, it is too hot for Antarctic penguins (currently about max 60 degrees F), and the penguin had been eating sand apparently under the impression it was snow. That made it sick and it has been picked up and taken to the local zoo for attention

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5185900/Sick-penguin-in-Wellington-Zoo-hospital

They still hope to release it if it gets better, in part as New Zealand does not have the facilities to care for it. (There is a penguin centre in Auckland but they are concerned that this wild penguin might introduce a disease).

I am hoping for the best for this magnificent bird

[buddha]

I read about this little guy!  I hope he recovers & they are able to find a place that can properly care for him.

[hoegaandit]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10734473

Second operation to remove sand successful although penguin still groggy. I would hope that if it can get through tonight (now posting mid afternoon Saturday as we are ahead of most of you) and it has no significant infections, things should start to get better from now - although it is still touch and go. I think it (not sure yet if male or female) was going to be fed some fish slurry today if possible, and it had been pecking at some ice between the first and second operations.

There have been no decisions as to where it is to go if it does make it (and this is premature speculation). Kelly Tarltons in Auckland (one hour flight away) has lots of smaller penguins and could possibly make a separate enclosure for it, but as penguins are social animals they would need to get some more of the same kind. Christchurch (about 3/4 hour flight) has an antarctic centre part of which is kept at subzero temperatures and also has small penguins, but is otherwise not very suitable. Apparently there are several zoos in the States which have emperor penguins, but I imagine this would be a minimum of 15+ hours transport and apparently these birds do not handle travel well.

However the good thing for now is that good care is being provided and so far so good.

[hoegaandit]

Penguin ok today (although they have only gotten about 1/5 of the sand out of his body so far). http://twitter.com/#!/wellingtonzoo

A local businessman Gareth Morgan who was a shareholder in his son's start up of the equivalent of ebay here and has made a lot of money from that (which he is entirely donating to charity as he is himself wealthy) has offered to pay for the bird to be taken to Antarctic by ship, but that will only be in February 2012.

[hoegaandit]

As an update the penguin had a further 2 hour endoscopy yesterday (tube down his throat to help remove sticks and sand from his stomach) which was successful. This was carried out by a local gastroentorogist (human doctor). The hope is that he or she (sex unknown yet) will excrete or regurgitate the rest of the sand and sticks. He or she is eating some fish slurry and also standing up again some in his or her makeshift cool storage home.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/video/news/video.cfm?c_id=1501138&gal_cid=1501138&gallery_id=119785

Apparently San Diego Seaworld has offered to take the penguin should it recover, and I think that would be best, although some penguin experts have been arguing presuming he recovers fully he should just be left at the bottom of the south island to find his own way over thousands of miles to the antarctic, which in my view is cruel and a nonsense.

[I Luv Chloe]

I SOOO dont want to steal this thread but "Amazing Penguin Story" made me think of this youtube video I saw a couple weeks ago.. This is AMAZING!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11xs9mFKObs

[hoegaandit]

That video is interesting. There's a degree of anthropomorphism but the Japanese penguin seems well cared for, and does have a lot of freedom. Keeping a wild animal like this as a pet would of course not be allowed here or a lot of other places.

The Emperor here is doing pretty well - although the facility seems a bit small at Seaworld San Diego, I still think that might be the best place for it to go, although it has been stated that it is not too uncommon for adolescent penguins to travel half way to NZ from the Antarctic, and they have some homing instinct, so perhaps if it could be taken half way to the Antarctic or further that might be an option too

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/emperor-penguin-stranded-zealand-13944957

[hoegaandit]

Well it's been decided by a group of experts that the penguin is going to be released back to the southern seas.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10735219 - obviously I agree with Dr Oram not Dr Cochrem here (whose views, respectfully, I think are idiotic). There is no realistic way this penguin can made its own way back over thousands of miles. Hopefully commonsense will prevail and it is at least released say a thousand miles south of New Zealand. All this is some months away in any event.

[hoegaandit]

Pretty cool - a livecam of the penguin - http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/3NewsLiveStream/HappyFeetlivestream.aspx

[I Luv Chloe]

Oh wow! How cool is that? 

[buddha]

Thanks for the link!  I'll be checking in on him several times during the day now.   

[hoegaandit]

Seems funny (or not I suppose) how he sleeps on the snow rather than on the mat). I was watching the feed one time when about three vet staff came in for some reason - but they completed whatever they were doing and it was all over in less than a minute; I guess they are trying to minimise stress. Apparently he is going to get a swim in the zoo's saltwater pool this week!

[mtc]

Poor thing looks like he/she's in solitary confinement !!

[hoegaandit]

It is necessary to minimise contact as he is a wild animal that is going to be released back into the southern oceans in a month or two. I think that is proper. It's not quite so bad as it may seem because apparently young emperor penguins up until about five years old actually go swimming off north from the antarctic continent, so won't be in packs as the adults are. At the moment in Antarctic it is night all the time anyway and ferociously cold, so the adults will be keeping together for warmth.

The other thing is that this penguin needs to remain isolated from other penguins, so that he does not bring some disease from warmer climes back to the Antarctic and cause a lot of deaths (that is, if he makes it back, which hopefully he will do). They are going to put a tracking device on him, although he will lose that after about six months when he moults. (There are penguin centres in two cities here, but of course the penguins are smaller local ones, not this large antarctic penguin).

He is getting very good care I think and there is a lot of support (financial and otherwise) and interest in this bird here. I just hope that he can be dropped off far enough south in due course and make his way back!

[winwinsmom]

Wow.  Amazing story.  Hope he returns back to his home safely!