Zoo Keeper Jodi Van Culic encourages the bird into the water
(ABC Local )
The Little Penguin had lost his waterproofing, which is bad news for a water bird. "He was very, very cold because once they're covered in oil they can't maintain their own body temperature and he had enteritis diarrhea from having swallowed oil," says Helen McCracken. "He would have died if he wasn't rescued."
Once he began responding to treatment though, zoo keepers were determined to release him back to his colony as soon as possible. But they'll still be able to keep an eye on him with an identification microchip which they implanted in his back.
Zoe Hogg works with St Kilda Penguin Research and says this will help them to monitor the health of the penguins in the bay. "It also gives us an indication of how they're surviving in the inner city because there are very few inner city penguins around. At the moment though, she says the population's in pretty good shape. "In actual fact ours are fat and lazy, they don't go very far to eat and they have quite a lot of chicks."
Perhaps that's why this Little Penguin appears to have become a bit too attached to life at the zoo.
He didn't do the dash to the ocean that most other released penguins do and had to be encouraged to enter the water.
He kept returning to his keeper Jodi Van Culic. "He did look at us, almost asking 'where is my lunch?' but unfortunately he has to catch his own lunch today," says Jodi Van Culic.
source
11 July, 2013
It's not everyday you get to successfully release a penguin back into the wild... in the heart of Melbourne.
About three weeks ago a dog walker on St Kilda Beach rescued a Little Penguin who had been covered in oil and was very sick. He was taken to the Melbourne Zoo where vet Helen McCracken and her team nursed him back to health.
The Little Penguin had lost his waterproofing, which is bad news for a water bird. "He was very, very cold because once they're covered in oil they can't maintain their own body temperature and he had enteritis diarrhea from having swallowed oil," says Helen McCracken. "He would have died if he wasn't rescued."
Once he began responding to treatment though, zoo keepers were determined to release him back to his colony as soon as possible. But they'll still be able to keep an eye on him with an identification microchip which they implanted in his back.
Zoe Hogg works with St Kilda Penguin Research and says this will help them to monitor the health of the penguins in the bay. "It also gives us an indication of how they're surviving in the inner city because there are very few inner city penguins around. At the moment though, she says the population's in pretty good shape. "In actual fact ours are fat and lazy, they don't go very far to eat and they have quite a lot of chicks."
Perhaps that's why this Little Penguin appears to have become a bit too attached to life at the zoo.
He didn't do the dash to the ocean that most other released penguins do and had to be encouraged to enter the water.
He kept returning to his keeper Jodi Van Culic. "He did look at us, almost asking 'where is my lunch?' but unfortunately he has to catch his own lunch today," says Jodi Van Culic.
source
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