Happy Feet packing on the pounds

Last updated 10:45 14/07/2011

Wellington Zoo

GAINING WEIGHT: Happy Feet is recovering well.

High-profile penguin Happy Feet has gained so much weight he is now heavier than when he was rescued from a lower North Island beach.

But experts were still in the process of figuring out how they would return him to sub-Antarctic waters when he was fully recovered, Wellington Zoo spokeswoman Kate Baker said.

Happy Feet - the first emperor penguin to swim to New Zealand from Antarctica for 44 years - has captured the public's imagination since being found last month on Peka Peka Beach, where he had been eating sand thinking it was snow.

Baker said Happy Feet, who had his stomach pumped to remove the sand, was recovering well.
He now weighed 24.6kg - 2.6kg more than when he was found.

Air conditioning experts were investigating how to cool down a salt water pool at the zoo so Happy Feet could swim comfortably in it until he was returned to sub-Antarctic waters.

Zoo staff were keeping Happy Feet largely in the dark to emulate the winter sunshine hours he could expect on his return home.
- The Dominion Post

Source