Pen-chan, a female Cape penguin, was raised in captivity and had never swum in the open sea before.
Tokyo:
An escaped penguin in Japan has been found safe and sound two weeks after it escaped into the sea and swam for miles, in what its keeper called a “miracle”.
Pen-chan, a female Cape penguin born and raised in captivity who had never swum in the open sea before and did not know how to take care of herself, escaped from an event in the central Aichi region on August 25.
Warden Ryosuke Imai said the group immediately began searching the area in “desperation”, but a strong typhoon that brought record rainfall across Japan made the search difficult.
Considering that Pen-chan can't swim and has no wilderness survival skills, the team believed that she wouldn't be able to travel far or survive longer than a week.
But on September 8, Imai received astonishing information that a flightless bird had been seen frolicking happily in the water at a beach 30 miles (45 kilometers) away.
“I thought she would look exhausted, but she swam as usual,” Imai told AFP after the animal was captured.
“It was beyond my surprise… It's a miracle,” he said.
He said that six-year-old Pen-chan must have been eating fish and crabs that she caught herself.
“I think she got there by stopping at different places to rest, but it's still incredible,” Imai said.
“She's lost a little weight, but she feels great.”
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