The penguin is being treated for malnutrition
and kidney failure
A royal penguin is being cared for at a New
Zealand zoo after being found stranded on a beach 2,000km (1,240 miles) from
its Antarctic home.
The young male bird, which was dehydrated and
starving, is thought to be only the fourth royal penguin to wash up there in
more than a century.
He is believed to have come from a breeding
colony in the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island.
Vets said the bird, dubbed Happy Feet Jr, may
have been drifting for a year.
Lisa Argilla, a vet at Wellington Zoo, said the
penguin had possibly struggled to find enough food or had had problems hunting
and had come ashore as he needed to go through his seasonal moulting.
He was found on Tora beach, on the coast to the
south of Wellington, on Sunday.
"It's very weak, doesn't want to stand.
It's making very small progress every day but it's still in critical
condition," Ms Argilla told the TVNZ channel.
She told AFP his kidneys were not functioning
properly, adding: "Hopefully we can reverse that, feed him up and bring
him back to good health but it's touch and go at the moment."
If he recovered, she said, he would be released
to make his way home.
"They're amazing at navigation so that shouldn't
be a problem for him," she said.
Last year, an emperor penguin, the original
Happy Feet, made headlines when he appeared on New Zealand's shores.
He had surgery to remove 3kg (6.6lb) of sand
from his stomach, which he is thought to have eaten thinking it was snow,
before being released with a tracking device.
But he disappeared soon after and was believed
to have been eaten.
UPDATE: No Happy ending for lost penguin
Posted 22 February 2013, 12:30 AEST
A lost penguin dubbed Happy Feet junior has
died, despite intensive efforts by New Zealand vets to save him.
A penguin dubbed Happy Feet junior that washed
up in New Zealand 2000 kilometres from his home has died despite intensive
efforts to save him, Wellington Zoo said on Friday.
A veterinary team spent five days caring for the
bird, a juvenile royal penguin which had drifted far from a breeding colony in
sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island after spending an estimated 12 months at sea.
But the zoo's chief vet, Lisa Argilla, said the
penguin died overnight as malnutrition and kidney failure took their toll.
"As the penguin arrived nearly three
kilograms underweight, it had absolutely no reserves and subsequently we
suspect that this led to multiple organ failure, following the kidney failure
diagnosed on its arrival," she said.
"Wildlife medicine is a very challenging field
and though we did the best we could, sadly the penguin didn't survive."
The bird's discovery revived memories of the
original Happy Feet, an emperor penguin that was found stranded near Wellington
in June 2011, attracting worldwide interest during an eight-week recuperation
at the zoo.
A New Zealand research ship eventually released
the penguin into the Southern Ocean after it received visits from celebrities
such as Stephen Fry and best wishes from New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.
However, a tracking device attached to the bird
stopped transmitting after a few days, sparking fears it had been eaten by a
shark.
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