Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Sad farewell to penguin chicks

18 December 2013

RM30,000 EACH: Underwater World Langkawi sold 15 of them to Hanoi aquarium

LANGKAWI: IT was an emotional moment for the 100-odd Underwater World Langkawi (UWL) employees when they bid farewell to penguin chicks that were heading for their new home in Vietnam yesterday.

The 15 African black-footed chicks, aged between 1 and 7 years old, which were hatched and bred at UWL, were bought by the Vinpearl Aquarium Times City in Hanoi, which will open on Christmas Day.
The chicks, comprising seven males and eight females, were flown to Hanoi via MAS Cargo in three custom-made boxes after a farewell ceremony yesterday morning.

UWL manager Norlina Zubir said some of the employees here had spent almost seven years with the penguins. "It is a touching moment for some of us here as we have a lot of good memories with the penguin chicks.

"Five more penguin chicks will be transferred to Hanoi soon." Norlina said UWL had bred 28 penguin chicks from the black-footed species. Each chick was sold for about RM30,000. "The delivery of penguin chicks to Vietnam proved UWL's capability to become a well-known penguin breeding and research centre in the region."

UWL received its first batch of penguins 36 from Rockhopper and black-footed species from Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 27, 2005.

These 15 penguin chicks are on their way to their new home in Hanoi. Pic by Shahrizal Md Noor

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