Professor's penguin power pays off

MATHEW GROCOTT

25/06/2011

Having travelled to Antarctica several times to study emperor penguins, a Massey University professor was surprised to find one had come to him.
Massey Associate Professor John Cockrem was called in by the Department of Conservation yesterday to help care for a penguin that has been living on Peka Peka Beach since Monday.
"It was certainly interesting to see, but it was so strange seeing the bird I'm so familiar with on snow and ice being on sand."
Something Prof Cockrem saw the bird do yesterday was familiar, but it meant it had to be taken to Wellington for surgery.
In their natural habitat emperor penguins eat snow and ice to cool down, but Prof Cockrem saw the bird eating sand and sticks in the same fashion.
"The bird was not looking in a very good condition," he said.
It was taken to Wellington Zoo where an X-ray showed its throat was blocked with sand. Vets sedated the animal to flush out the blockage and were to operate on the penguin today.
If the bird recovered, Prof Cockrem said it could not be returned to Antarctica but he hoped it could be released back into the wild.
"Perhaps the bird could be released down on the south coast of the South Island."
Based at Massey's Manawatu campus, Prof Cockrem has been studying penguins for 15 years and had travelled to Antarctica several times.
He could not explain why the bird had travelled to New Zealand but said the journey north would have taken several weeks, if not months.
"It's several thousand kilometres north of where it should be."
The second emperor penguin to ever be spotted in New Zealand, the bird has attracted national attention and Prof Cockrem said DOC had done a good job of managing the crowds who had turned out to see it.
While he was saddened by the penguin's condition, he thought it was good it had been taken from the beach before today, when an even larger crowd of admirers could have been expected.

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