Happy Feet Back to Eating Fish
July 6, 2011 by Eric Bennett
The Penguin Post has learned that recent celebrity penguin Happy Feet has ditched his demanding sand and twig diet in favor of Marlborough cuisine. That’s because New Zealand King Salmon has donated about 250 lbs of salmon smolt (juvenile fish) to Wellington Zoo to help restore the young Antarctic visitor to health. Happy Feet is eating up to 5 lbs of the fish a day. New Zealand King Salmon marketing manager Stephen Gibson said the company supplied Wellington Zoo with the salmon smolt when it was available and had doubled the contribution for the Antarctic interloper. The wayward emperor penguin sparked international interest when he arrived at Peka Peka Beach, over 2000 miles from Antarctica, three weeks ago. Unfortunately he mistakenly ate sand, mistaking it for ice, to cool down as well as twigs and rocks. He has since had surgery at Wellington Zoo to remove the sand. The penguin was back on the table on Saturday for his fourth procedure to flush more sand from his stomach. Veterinary science manager Lisa Argilla said undergoing general anaesthetics was unlikely to be tiring or stressful for Happy Feet, but he did need a rest between procedures. A specially formed Penguin Advisory Committee has decided the best option would be to release him in the sub-Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. However, Dr Argilla warned that even doing this would have its risks and Happy Feet would need to be taken some distance from land. “He’s a bit of a sand eater.” It was likely he would remain at the zoo for a month.
Tracking Happy Feet Home
July 7, 2011 by Eric Bennett
Happy Feet the wayward emperor penguin will take a piece of New Zealand with him when he travels home to Antarctica, and we’re not talking New Zealand beach sand or twigs. The Penguin Post has learned that a New Zealand firm is producing and donating the tracking device that will record the penguin’s journey when he’s released. Since Happy Feet went ill after swimming up onto a beach on New Zealand’s Kapiti Coast and began mistaking sand for a snow snack last month he’s been in the care for of the Wellington Zoo. Sirtrack CEO Mike Kelly said the company offered to make a tracking device for the penguin because it was an unusual case and a way to help. “It’s really interesting. It’s not often you get to track an emperor penguin off our coast,” Mr Kelly said. “It’s a good way to demonstrate how our units work.” The company had previously made a tracker for Tarly the loggerhead turtle, which was found injured in Northland, NZ. The turtle made it all the way to Chile before the tracker stopped working.
The device is not meant to be permanent, as it will fall off when Happy Feet moulted. “It’s taken several years to develop this type tracker and it’s now deployed all around the world,” Mr Kelly said. The company had offices in the US and distributors in Africa. They regularly worked with more than 70 countries supplying wildlife tracking devices for every kind of animal, from birds and reptiles to lions, tigers and bears. A wildlife expert would attach the device to the penguin, with guidance from Sirtrack, when Happy Feet is finally well enough to make the trip south, Mr Kelly said. “Happy Feet has to meet all his health checks and that decision will rest with the experts at Wellington Zoo.”
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