Pint-sized #penguin finds way into pub on Hobart waterfront

By Ted O'Connor

03.02.2016

Photo: The penguin was given refuge in the hotel after making his way across several lanes of traffic. (Supplied: Rob Jubb )

In a moment of lunchtime comedy a penguin has walked across a busy road on Hobart's waterfront and found refuge in a local pub.

It seems the little penguin dodged traffic on busy Morrison Street, before finding shade under a car outside Customs House hotel where he was found by bar staff.
He was soon dubbed Pablo the Penguin, although the warm reception inside did not woo him.
"Fairly ferocious there at one point, had a couple of nips at my mum and we lost it for a bit in the office," hotel manager Robert Jubb said.
"It was pretty entertaining over lunchtime so it wasn't a bad thing that's for sure."
Pablo was rugged-up and put in a box, but staff were disappointed that despite the warm weather he declined to buy a round.
"He didn't spend any cash which probably wasn't ideal, but nonetheless got it a bit of water and probably some much needed shelter," Mr Jubb said.
But with a local vet called in, Pablo was not able to settle in for the afternoon.

Photo: Hobart vet James Harris said Pablo was in good health despite his foray into a busy pub. (ABC News: Ted O'Connor)

 

Dr James Harris assessed the penguin and found the juvenile was in good health, just a little underweight.
He said the episode showed human activity in Hobart was ever encroaching on penguin habitats.
"I don't consider this bizarre, fairy penguins are native to this area," he said.
"I think we humans need to understand that we share this planet with many other species, they have a right to their habitat just as much as we do."
He said Pablo could have come from the many penguin populations around the mouth of the River Derwent.
Pablo will be taken to a local wildlife sanctuary for the night.
He will then spend some time with a wildlife carer at Port Arthur and, when fully grown, will be released back into the ocean.
Last year other Tasmanian wildlife made headlines when they took to inland lakes.
An echidna was found by an angler swimming across Lake Echo in November, and shortly after a struggling wombat was scooped up in a fishing net in the middle of Woods Lake.

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