[Faline]

Update:

A lost emperor penguin who was found 3,000 miles from Antarctica is being returned home after having lifesaving surgery.
Happy Feet has been nursed back to health at a New Zealand zoo after eating sand which he thought was snow and becoming seriously ill.
He has been fitted with a GPS tracker so the public can track his progress online once he has been released. However, the microchip will fall off early next year when he begins to moult.
The one-year-old has put on 18lb at Wellington Zoo in the last two months after 7lb of sand, sticks and stones were removed from his stomach.
He was fed on a diet of fish milkshakes in an air-conditioned room.
Yesterday he was moved to the research vessel Tangaroa ready to be taken to the Southern Ocean. Comedian Stephen Fry was among the people to visit Happy Feet while he was being nursed back to health.
Vets placed him in a custom-made crate for the journey. He will be kept cool with 60 buckets of ice and fed fish as he makes his way home.
Dr Lisa Argilla, said Happy Feet has a 'stronger and stroppier attitude' than when he arrived at the zoo. She said his demeanour seemed flat and his feathers were in a poor condition.
'He's definitely a survivor,' she said.
His story has touched people from around the world. A web camera set up at the zoo has attracted about a quarter of a million viewers - despite the penguin doing little more than eating, sleeping and waddling.
'He's brought a lot of hope and joy to people,' said Karen Fifield, Wellington Zoo's chief executive. 'His story has driven to the heart of what makes us human.'
He had been eating wet sand on Peka Peka Beach to keep cool. The Tangaroa is New Zealand's largest research vessel and was already scheduled to head to southern waters to check on fish numbers in order to set quotas.
He will be released after four days at sea at a latitude of 51 degrees south.



Long trip home: The penguin is carried to research ship Tangaroa before making his four-day journey back to the Southern Ocean. He will be fed fish and kept cool with ice:


Online tracking: Happy Feet stands in his container next to Gareth Morgan who helped to pay for GPS equipment which will enable the public to stay in touch with where the one-year-old penguin goes:


The boat's skipper Richard O'Driscoll said that once the Tangaroa has reached the drop-off point, he will likely cut the engines and then release the penguin from the deck into the sea with a makeshift canvas slide.
More than 1,700 people gathered at the zoo yesterday to say a final goodbye to Happy Feet, who was visible in a glassed area while getting final medical checks.
Dr Argilla said that by next year Happy Feet he will be old enough to find a mate and breed.
She added: 'He'll hopefully bump into some penguins that he recognises. Otherwise, he'll probably establish himself in another colony.'

[NDORFN]

Originally Posted by NiteFlyer ↗

you can pay the bill for it then

I'm from New Zealand and like everyone else I know I actually AM paying the bill and am proud of it. We like animals down here. It's just how we are.

[Nite]

i think that our country has higher priorities ATM
jus sayin
these are hardly endangered animals
what parts ya from?

[Faline]

A lost emperor penguin named Happy Feet who turned up on a beach in New Zealand has been taken home after under-going life-saving surgery.
The 3ft bird, who was left desperately ill after eating sand that he thought was snow, was taken back to the Antarctic on a research ship.
He was released down a slide into the water two months after he was discovered disorientated more than 1,000 miles from home.

But although he has been released, the penguin has been fitted with a tracking device so web users can keep track of where he goes over the next few months.
Vet Lisa Argilla, who looked after Happy Feet at Wellington Zoo, said she was pleased that he had been released back into the Southern Ocean.
She said: 'He slid down his specially-designed penguin slide backwards, but once he hit the water he spared no time in diving off away from the boat and all those "aliens" who have been looking after him for so long.'

A team from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and the boat crew were all on deck to wave him goodbye.
'It's an indescribable feeling to see a patient finally set free,' said Miss Argilla.
Voyage leader Richard O'Driscoll told Wellington's The Press newspaper that apart from giving the veterinary team a few nips at feeding time, the penguin had been a well-behaved passenger.
'It's been a pleasure to have Happy Feet on board,' he said. 'We're just happy to help him on his journey home.'
But just in case he gets lost again, the wayward penguin has been fitted with a tracking device, which will eventually drop off, so the team - and the public - can follow his progress back home.

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EtCQ908FQrM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[kellyhound]

Fears are growing for the wellbeing of Happy Feet, an emperor penguin who washed up on a New Zealand beach, after scientists lost contact with the bird.

A transmitter attached to the penguin earlier this month on his release back into the wild stopped relaying information on his location on Friday.

Researchers said Happy Feet may have been eaten, or the tracking device may have failed or fallen off.

The bird was found emaciated on a beach in June, hundreds of miles off course.

There are many theories abounding over the sudden loss of contact with Happy Feet.

Kevin Lay from Sirtrack widlife tracking team told local media that the most likely explanation was that the transmitter had fallen off the penguin.

It is time to harden up to the reality that the penguin has returned to the anonymity from which he emerged”

Colin Miskelly Wildlife expert, Wellington
"To be uninvasive, we only glued it on so that it would fall off. We hoped it would stay on for five or six months, but it appears in this case it's only stayed on for two weeks,".

Mr Lay said it was possible the penguin had been eaten, but that this was doubtful.

"There are some species that will forage on Emperor penguins. It's not likely that it has happened to Happy Feet because of the area he was in," he said.

Wildlife expert Colin Miskelly, who advised on Happy Feet's treatment, told that efforts to find the penguin would continue.

"It is unlikely that we will ever know what caused the transmissions to cease, but it is time to harden up to the reality that the penguin has returned to the anonymity from which he emerged," he told the news agency.

[Faline]

Hope he wasn't eaten