Weakened penguin taken off NZ beach
Source: Agencies |
June 25, 2011, Saturday
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AFTER planning to let nature take its course, wildlife officials moved a stranded emperor penguin from a New Zealand beach to a zoo yesterday, after its health appeared to be worsening.
The young penguin had been eating sand and small sticks of driftwood, which it tried to regurgitate. First seen on a North Island beach Monday, the penguin appeared more lethargic as the week progressed, and officials feared it would die if they didn't intervene.
The rare venture north by an Antarctic species captured public imagination, and experts initially said the bird appeared healthy and well-fed and intervention was unnecessary.
But they became concerned enough to step in yesterday.
Experts lifted the penguin from the beach into a tub of ice and then onto the back of a truck. The bird was docile, so they didn't sedate it for the 65-kilometer journey from Peka Peka Beach to the Wellington Zoo, said one of the helpers, Colin Miskelly, a curator at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand.
It made sense that a penguin might mistake sand for Antarctic snow, which emperors eat for hydration, Miskelly said, but he had no explanation for the bird eating wood.
Miskelly said experts at the zoo were considering sedating the penguin and putting it on an intravenous drip as they tried to nurse it back to health. Ideally, the bird would recover enough that it could be released back into the wild.
Miskelly said no facilities in New Zealand were designed to house an emperor penguin long-term. It's the tallest and largest penguin species and can grow up to 122 centimeters high and weigh more than 34 kilograms.
Christine Wilton, the local resident who discovered the penguin while walking her dog, was back at the beach yesterday to say goodbye.
"I'm so pleased it's going to be looked after," she said. "He needed to get off the beach. He did stand up this morning, but you could tell that he wasn't happy."
Experts say the bird is about 10 months old. They had not determined its sex. Emperor penguins live in Antarctica, about 3,200 kilometers from the North Island beach where the penguin was stranded. It is thought it took a wrong turn while hunting squid and krill.
The young penguin had been eating sand and small sticks of driftwood, which it tried to regurgitate. First seen on a North Island beach Monday, the penguin appeared more lethargic as the week progressed, and officials feared it would die if they didn't intervene.
The rare venture north by an Antarctic species captured public imagination, and experts initially said the bird appeared healthy and well-fed and intervention was unnecessary.
But they became concerned enough to step in yesterday.
Experts lifted the penguin from the beach into a tub of ice and then onto the back of a truck. The bird was docile, so they didn't sedate it for the 65-kilometer journey from Peka Peka Beach to the Wellington Zoo, said one of the helpers, Colin Miskelly, a curator at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand.
It made sense that a penguin might mistake sand for Antarctic snow, which emperors eat for hydration, Miskelly said, but he had no explanation for the bird eating wood.
Miskelly said experts at the zoo were considering sedating the penguin and putting it on an intravenous drip as they tried to nurse it back to health. Ideally, the bird would recover enough that it could be released back into the wild.
Miskelly said no facilities in New Zealand were designed to house an emperor penguin long-term. It's the tallest and largest penguin species and can grow up to 122 centimeters high and weigh more than 34 kilograms.
Christine Wilton, the local resident who discovered the penguin while walking her dog, was back at the beach yesterday to say goodbye.
"I'm so pleased it's going to be looked after," she said. "He needed to get off the beach. He did stand up this morning, but you could tell that he wasn't happy."
Experts say the bird is about 10 months old. They had not determined its sex. Emperor penguins live in Antarctica, about 3,200 kilometers from the North Island beach where the penguin was stranded. It is thought it took a wrong turn while hunting squid and krill.
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