Preparations underway to return lost emperor penguin to the wild

Aug 3, 2011

Wellington - A lost emperor penguin that landed in New Zealand was swimming in a chilled pool as preparations were being made to return it o the wild, reports said Wednesday.
The New Zealand Press Association reported that the penguin continued to gain weight and good health.
The young male bird was named Happy Feet by locals after it landed on a beach north of Wellington, at least 3,000 kilometres from its Antarctica home. It had been more than 40 years since an emperor penguin turned up in New Zealand.
The penguin has undergone several procedures to remove sand, sticks and rocks from its stomach and throat after it began eating sand. The birds eat snow in their native environment to cool down.
It now weighs 26 kilograms and is healthy enough to be released into the sea south of New Zealand, but the Department of Conservation is still working out how to transport the penguin in zero degree Celsius conditions.
In the meantime, the penguin was eating well and behaving normally as it returned to swimming in a chilled saltwater pool.
Wellington Zoo veterinary science manager Lisa Argilla estimated that it would cost 30,000 New Zealand dollars (26,280 US dollars) to get the penguin to the best release point for it to be able to return to Antarctica.
'There are a lot of factors we need to consider just to keep him safe on the journey, so we just need to work through that and make sure we take him down south and have a successful release,' she said.
'We are not prepared to rush that, obviously, because if you rush it, it's going to go wrong.'

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