A PLEA FOR THE PENGUINS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 123, 17 February 1921, Page 5

A PLEA FOR THE PENGUINS

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —-May I put in a word for the Penguins lately placed in tho Wellington Zoo? These most human birds are from a world where the protective instincts are not necessary, a solitary land whose denizens reside in splendid isolation. Yesterday I visited the Zoo, and was amazed to find the seven or so survivors of the penguins brought by the Tutanekai placed in a wire enclosure with some thirty odd other birds (fowls, ducks, . pelicans, pukeke, and other breeds). Among such wide-awake birds the penguins looked perplexed and unhappy, as well they might, and came to every human that approached their cage, Roping, no doubt, that they represented freedom from such a bedlam. Although the penguins made attempts to eat some of the food offered, Die fowls snatched if from their mouth, while the former seemed utterly powerless to protect themselves. A miserable pond of shallow water was in the cage, but not of sufficient depth for the penguin to dive in. Surely for such birds, accustomed to livo in the open sea at periods, it would bo wiser and kinder to place them in the seals enclosure. There they would bo perfectly happy, and more in their natural element than kept among a mixture of land birds.—l am. etc., ZOOLOGIST.