Rhea Mae 2:45pm

[Happy Feet rated priceless publicity despite costs]

Happy Feet rated priceless publicity despite costs

At least   $30,000 has been spent saving Happy Feet the penguin at a time when conservation budgets for safeguarding other wildlife are being slashed.

But the bird has provided priceless publicity for wildlife in general, says Forest and Bird.

Happy Feet, an emperor penguin from Antarctica, was found on a Kapiti Coast beach north of Wellington in June and, according to figures obtained through the Official Information Act, Wellington Zoo estimates it has cost in excess of $30,000 for numerous operations to remove sticks and sand from his stomach, as well as rehabilitating him for a return to the wild.

The Department of Conservation (DoC) has not released how much it spent on looking after the penguin while it was on the beach and then transported to Wellington.

The department is planning to return him to the sea in August from a boat off the Bluff coast.

Forest and Bird advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell said $30,0000 may seem like a lot of money when seen against the backdrop of DoC redundancies. The department announced in June it would be cutting 100 jobs across the organisation.

"The Department of Conservation has had its budget slashed by the government and it's laying off staff so having to spend significant sums of money looking after this one bird compared to other birds, and other things – you can ask those questions."

He said Wellington Zoo and DoC were "damned if they do and damned if they don't. They certainly would have been criticised if they hadn't helped."

Hackwell said while $30,000 was a lot to spend on the care of a wayward bird, the publicity around Happy Feet had heightened publicity around birds and wildlife in New Zealand in general.

"I wouldn't begrudge Happy Feet his $30,000 because it has created an opportunity to talk.

"It might make people think about the wildlife that's around us all the time rather than what turns up once a century."

Happy Feet is the first known emperor penguin to swim the more than 3000km to New Zealand from Antarctica in 44 years.

"It's a neat animal and it is pretty exciting that it turned up here and people were able to do something about it. People get really excited about a bird way out of place and naturally they are sympathetic and want to do something to help," Hackwell said.

For Wellington Zoo, any cost will likely be offset by the crowds the penguin has been pulling in. Visitor numbers have increased by about 50% compared to the same time last year.

Thanks for that, Donna!

Good luck!!

Depends on the size of it! Use protective clothing and do this after dark, as they are dormant. Get a jar bigger than the nest and gently place the opening over the nest. The nest and wasps should all be in the jar at this point. Use a scraper to unhook the nest and cover. Then do what you want with the nest! The woods is a good release point. Found this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1HnOI6IZNI#ws

Now that's a mouthful! Interesting Bobbie, thanks.

Empty Nest Syndrome
July 30, 2011 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:

July 23rd was the last confirmed sighting of a juvie here. The parents are still seen every day. In fact the female we call Trillium is in the box for at least 4 hours every day. I think she finds it cooler in this heat wave that we have been experiencing. We hope that both young ones have learned to hunt & fend for themselves & perhaps one day we will hear from a falcon watcher somewhere that they have a family of their own .

They left early!

Loving these pet bird discussions, everyone!

Pffft! I just wanted a bird I could play with and enjoy, didn't think it would ever come with eggs!!!

Looks like we fooled old MAK again this morning, huh Beauty? 
"Yeah, she thinks I flew off to the South!" "Psyche!!"

 "Fool!"

Wow Margaret, that's a lot of work!!! Chewey was a baby when we got HIM, lol and yes I had to dropper feed her with her special cereal. As she got older, she was a fussy bird, did not want people food. I tried it all, from fruits to veggies to PIZZA, yay Chewey likes pizza. She is a very difficult eater. She'll eat crackers, LOVES pasta and Snapple Ice Tea. I give her what we are eating but she wants no part of it. Seed seed seed, is what she wants and back then, no one said different. She loves peanuts, in the shell but right now, she eats the shell not the peanut, only since egg laying. Go figure. She has to dip everything in her water first before eating, chips, cheese doodles and crackers. She walks to her water dish, dips the cracker in and then takes it to her food dish and eats it. Never tried the chicken, as I thought that would be rude, even though the vet said it's OK. Tried the pellet deal with her and tried to wean her off the seed....NOPE, she wants no part of it and would rather not eat at all. STUBBORN she is. If she doesn't like something, she will toss it out of the cage, just to piss me off or go to her water dish and rattle it so the water goes all over the cage. She had bonded with me and me only. If I hold her and my son walks by, she will fluff up and go into attack mode and usually ends up biting me instead of the interloper. 
One morning when she was a baby, me and Ed were in the kitchen having coffee. Chewey was 2 rooms away. Suddenly, I felt something pulling my pant leg. Looked down and there was Chewey climbing my leg. A lock on the cage settled that deal. She is very smart but can also be very stubborn. I really don't want to go through this egg-laying deal after so many years without, it's insane. She has her friend Moe, my Cockatiel to keep her company, in a cage right next to her and a male conure next door, who screams all the time, maybe that's  why she's laying eggs, who knows. She has pushed this egg over to the side now and could care less about it. I'll remove it when she wakes up.
Question, how often will she do this egg thing? Seasonal or all year long!!! UGH!! Thanks for all the info, I'm new at this and will keep trying to get her to eat more things. I need a nanny!

Poor S2! 

[Yarak shouldn't be working on his Birthday!!]

Yarak shouldn't be working on his Birthday!!

How old is that in People Years?
 
Carol
WV

50!   

 

Of course, if I could spell "Angel", it might have been more pertinent.

Saw that but didn't want to say! Just sayin!! Bobbie Angle!! 

Margaret...150 eggs?? OMG, I'll die if Chewey lays that many. He/she is going on her 3rd egg, which should come sometime on Sunday. He cares nothing for these eggs but still I keep the egg in there as the vet said it may make him stop laying. The vet also said make her days short, cover her early and leave her covered later in the am. As soon as I covered her on Thurs afternoon, she went down on the bottom and popped one out. How often do they lay these eggs? How many times a year? I need to be prepared for this action that I'm fully not aware of, especially having her for 20 years with NO eggs. My Chewey has since day 1, been a feather picker/puller. She has never grown in her feathers on her chest so seeing the eggs bulging in her abdomen is a freaky sight. That's how I know she has another egg ready, I can SEE it. She has a calcium lick in her cage so what I do is scrape a bunch off into a powder and put it in with her food so she at least gets some calcium and I dissolve a Tum in her water also. This is a lot of work and if I wanted a girl, I would have asked for one 20 years ago. I asked for a boy!! I'm still in shock over this and will be for the rest of my life!  Oh my neighbor has a male Conure...hmmm!! 

I still say she/her but the vet said, who cares, they don't know! LOL