Emperor Penguin at Peka Peka, Kapiti Coast

[Byrd]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/5204 ... Happy-Feet

The emperor penguin who was found thousands of kilometres from home at a Kapiti Coast beach is set to be released into the Southern Ocean to fend for itself, when it regathers its strength.

The Antarctic bird, dubbed Happy Feet, has been in surgery at Wellington Zoo after it became seriously ill from eating sand and sticks on Peka Peka beach.

The penguin advisory committee this morning decided the preferred option would be to release Happy Feet into the Southern Ocean, rather than transporting it to Antarctica.

This is the northern edge of the known range of juvenile emperor penguins.

"The reason for not returning the penguin directly to Antarctica is that emperor penguins of this age are usually found north of Antarctica on pack ice and in the open ocean" DOC biodiversity officer Peter Simpson said.

The penguin will not be released until it is deemed well enough to have a reasonable chance of survival.

It will stay at Wellington Zoo in the meantime.

X-rays today revealed that Happy Feet the emperor penguin is making excellent progress.

Wellington Zoo veterinary manager Lisa Argilla said x-rays taken this morning showed the penguin had passed about half the sand in his system.

She expected he would be able to pass the rest of the sand naturally and at this stage another endoscopy would not be necessary.

"He's doing better. He's a lot stronger and he's moving around a lot," Argilla said.

Happy Feet has come around from a general anesthetic and has been returned to his cold room of ice.

[Colin Miskelly]

Hi folks

As reported in the media, there were some decisions made today on the preferred rehabilitation and release strategy for the vagrant emperor penguin now at Wellington Zoo.

Some context and images (including an x-ray showing the amount of sand in the bird when taken into care last Friday) are on the Te Papa blog site: http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/author/colinmiskelly/

Regards
Colin

[Byrd]

DoC has really been stuck between a rock and a hard place throughout this situation, given how public it has all been. And things like this always bring out the nutters:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/5209 ... Feet-delay

International outrage was levelled at the Conservation Department after its early decision to leave Happy Feet to fend for himself at Peka Peka Beach.

Emails released to The Dominion Post reveal the scale of condemnation directed at DOC by people from around the world who believed intervention should have come sooner.

The emails also show how close Happy Feet was to being euthanased.

X-rays taken by Pacific Radiology yesterday showed the juvenile penguin was making good progress and half the sand had been passed from his stomach – the rest was expected to pass naturally.

Wellington Zoo vet science manager Lisa Argilla warned he was not out of the danger zone yet.

"If there's a stick we can't see. It just needs to angle incorrectly and it could jam and cause problems."

Although it was difficult to put a date on it, Happy Feet would probably stay at the zoo for a month before he could be released.

He would probably be given access to the "pool room", although icebergs may need to be made and placed in the water to make it colder.

Dr Argilla refused to comment on the potential for Happy Feet to experience psychological trauma, given that emperor penguins were used to socialising with other animals and spending time swimming and diving.

He would still be quite stressed, but was improving and moving around a bit more in the makeshift room he was being kept in. "When you handle him he's very stroppy."

Emails sent to DOC since Happy Feet's discovery show the strength of feeling against the agency's decision not to intervene immediately.

An email sent on from Kapiti area manager Rob Stone to the office of Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson also revealed the abuse became personal.

"I am concerned that as time goes on, the clamour for intervention will grow, and become political. The area programme manager managing this is receiving emails that are close to being abusive, from persons associated with animals rights causes.

"There is a danger that in time the penguin may grow weak and in danger of expiring on the beach in public view."

The following day, when the penguin was eventually moved, Mr Stone updated Ms Wilkinson and said his condition had deteriorated.

"A likely recommendation from vets will be to remove it from the beach [and therefore public view] to a clinic [Massey or possible Wellington Zoo] and then euthanasia."

Yesterday, a specially formed Penguin Advisory Committee decided the best option would be to release Happy Feet in the southern ocean, south east of New Zealand.

This is the northern edge of the known range of juvenile emperor penguins.

EMAILS SENT TO DOC ABOUT PENGUIN

-I was thinking that you were a human and responsible nation, but now I believe that I am wrong.

-You have decided to let him die, and it will be a very painful death. Starving and sweating to death. You have proved us to be nothing else than selfish and vile human beings. And the worst part is that you will pay this. You will suffer what this penguin is suffering.
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-Why leave him there eating wet sand? I worry that he will be attracted by a predator of some kind or that he won't make it home safely.

-It is inhumane to sit back and watch him starve to death.

-If you need to find a place that is cold enough for Happy Feet, I am happy to offer my blimin cold flat in Mt Victoria which is only 10 minutes walk to the equally cold Oriental Bay beach.

-At least have the decency to euthanise this poor animal Please please help it get home, it is too sad to think of it never seeing emperor penguins again and it will never get there by itself.

[Steps]

Got to agree re many intances with nutters and extremists..
But ...
'Happy feet' was stuck in an enviroment and unwell, that was foreighn to his well being...
A cow fwanders into the sawp....do we leave it there streesed, unconfortable?
A whale strands on a beach....well its not really practical to move it to an aquaruim to get well...
A dophin strands....do we leave it there or do we put it back into a comfortable /suitable enviroment to recover?
A shag has a fish hook, do we take it to a place suitable to recover?
A wood pidgen gets feathers really fluffed up by a passing truck, has a dislocated wing....do we leave it on the side of the road, or take to a place of recovery?

Where does 1 rule start and the other finish?
Its not domestic /wild
Its not land animal/ sea animal
Whale/ small yep there is the critria ....Emperor penguins are classified with whales.

I see or saw no justification to leave the animal on the beach....which wisely, was eventually over ruled later rather than sooner.

[Neil Fitzgerald]

That famous proverb come to mind, "If a penguin dies on a beach and there is no one there to see it, did it still suffer?"

[Byrd]

it took Bluebird a lot longer than I would have anticipated, but they've finally twigged to the publicity possibilities of helping out in some way:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/n ... d=10735383

They've been using penguins to sell crisps to Kiwis for decades - and now Bluebird says it is looking at how it can help the sickly stray Happy Feet.

Group brands manager Lisa King said that assisting the bird, which is at Wellington Zoo, "was definitely something we've considered, but at this stage we haven't finalised".

It was not yet known what role Bluebird could play, but Ms King said helping the penguin was an obvious step for the company to take.

[phil hammond]

i'm a little sad to see DOC coming in for tough critisism, i think they have handled this, in the main , well.
Some of the critisism seems to be coming from people who are ignorant of the fact that milions of wild creatures die slow and painfull deaths every year, as ian and others have pointed out thats nature

i have nothing against bird rescue---i've taken birds into rescue centres myself as many of you have, but i dont think thats DOC's role. They are there to conserve endagered species

while i'm on my hobby horse, if any of the harsh critics happen to be cat owners that let their pets roam around outdoors they have to be hypocrites of the worst kind------thats not nature its people who hide their heads in the sand allowing their aliens to kill unskilled natives [slowly]

[simon.fordham]

Well said Phil! All too often we hear of DOC being criticized for not acting on things that are not their responsibility.

..... and Phil. Yes, I would agree with releasing the bird in situ in principle but I guess it has captured the public's imagination so the powers that be need to be seen to at least be trying to give this individual the best chance of survival.

Si

[Steps]

i have nothing against bird rescue---i've taken birds into rescue centres myself as many of you have, but i dont think thats DOC's role. They are there to conserve endagered species

But it is DoCs role to make the call...allow it to happen.
Do next time I see a damaged kiwi and report to DoC, will DoC resuce it or leave it?
DoC needs some consistancy in its poicies....
In the sth island they alloow ring necks, Nth cull them
Sth Island allow capitive kakariki release. Nth Island we chop hunders of heads off.
Will resuce in most cases yet a high publicty dont....even if done simply just for the PR benfit..

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Who knew what to expect would happen to an emperor penguin that came ashore on a sandy beach in temperate NZ? It's not like it happens often. In hindsight, eating sand was a bad sign, but it might just as likely passed the sand, waddled back down the beach and started swimming for colder water (or at least out of sight). If it had been 'rescued' in the first couple of days there would probably have been an equal outcry that it should be left to its own devices. The Dept was damned either way.
An injured kiwi is much easier. Endangered for a start, and if injured by human device we have a moral obligation to try to fix it, IMO.
The upside of all this is that there will be more on which to make an informed descision next time.