Lost penguin recovering in NZ
Source: Agencies |
June 28, 2011, Tuesday
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AN ANTARCTIC penguin stranded on a New Zealand beach and resorted to eating sand was recovering yesterday after a very human treatment: an endoscopy performed by one of the country's top surgeons.
It may be months before the young emperor penguin - affectionately dubbed "Happy Feet" - fully recovers, and officials are uncertain about when or how it could return home about 3,200 kilometers away.
Doctors at the Wellington Zoo guided a tube camera through the penguin's swollen intestines and flushed its stomach to remove the swallowed sand, which it apparently mistook for snow. Penguins eat snow to hydrate themselves. To ensure the health of its newest star, the zoo brought in Wellington Hospital specialist John Wyeth - who usually operates only on humans - to help with the procedure.
Doctors yesterday removed about half of the remaining sand and several twigs from the bird's digestive system, zoo spokeswoman Kate Baker said .
Happy Feet, nicknamed after the animated 2006 movie about a tap-dancing emperor penguin, was first spotted last week. Emperors typically spend their entire lives around Antarctica, rarely encountering humans.
Conservation official Peter Simpson said it could remain at the zoo for three more months recovering. An X-ray is scheduled for today, but medical staff hope the penguin will be able to pass the rest of the debris in its system naturally.
"It's positive news, but he's definitely not out of the woods yet," Baker said.
She said the penguin is now dining on fish slurry. She said it has been standing and appearing more active than when it first arrived.
The penguin is being housed in a room at the zoo chilled to about 8 degrees Celsius, Baker said, and has a bed of ice to sleep on.
The bird was first spotted a week ago on a beach northwest of Wellington - the first time an emperor penguin has been seen there in 44 years.
It may be months before the young emperor penguin - affectionately dubbed "Happy Feet" - fully recovers, and officials are uncertain about when or how it could return home about 3,200 kilometers away.
Doctors at the Wellington Zoo guided a tube camera through the penguin's swollen intestines and flushed its stomach to remove the swallowed sand, which it apparently mistook for snow. Penguins eat snow to hydrate themselves. To ensure the health of its newest star, the zoo brought in Wellington Hospital specialist John Wyeth - who usually operates only on humans - to help with the procedure.
Doctors yesterday removed about half of the remaining sand and several twigs from the bird's digestive system, zoo spokeswoman Kate Baker said .
Happy Feet, nicknamed after the animated 2006 movie about a tap-dancing emperor penguin, was first spotted last week. Emperors typically spend their entire lives around Antarctica, rarely encountering humans.
Conservation official Peter Simpson said it could remain at the zoo for three more months recovering. An X-ray is scheduled for today, but medical staff hope the penguin will be able to pass the rest of the debris in its system naturally.
"It's positive news, but he's definitely not out of the woods yet," Baker said.
She said the penguin is now dining on fish slurry. She said it has been standing and appearing more active than when it first arrived.
The penguin is being housed in a room at the zoo chilled to about 8 degrees Celsius, Baker said, and has a bed of ice to sleep on.
The bird was first spotted a week ago on a beach northwest of Wellington - the first time an emperor penguin has been seen there in 44 years.
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