They're going to need some sort of speed
counter to get that heart rate,
because it is fast.
It's around one eighty,
180 to 200, so his system is under a bit of strain.
The absolute last thing he needs is to
have this amount of worms in his system.
The idea is that soon enough he’ll be back with his family.
The most important thing right now
"is just for him to rest and also build up his strength."
They said under the rock ledge, but, boy,
there's a fair bit of rock ledge here,
and a little penguin.
Jeez, I hope he's still here.
The poor thing he's not gonna survive without us getting him.
He's going to go to the dogs.
Hello?
Hey, Barry.
How you going?
All right, penguin?
Yeah.
Where abouts?
At Clovelly.
Okay, I'm about 5 minutes away.
Alright, mate.
Thanks.
Neil, I've just got a penguin, mate, I've gotta go.
Cheers.
"Any bird that's in distress is seriously ill."
But a wild bird like a penguin,
I'm seriously concerned.
Come on, show yourself.
I'm only trying to help.
We've just got to get to him
and just see what his situation is.
We don't really know what his situation is
until we can examine him.
I'll have to try down the other side.
"You wouldn't have happened to spot a penguin"
on your walk around the rocks, would you?
"It's under one of these rock ledges, we're told,"
but we can't see it at the moment.
Yeah, well, that's what we're afraid of.
Well, they were pretty vague.
They said he's under a rock ledge.
But if you look around here,
there's rock ledges everywhere.
There he is.
Barry,
Mate, we've got a fair case here.
I think we might need you here.
You've got a fairy penguin, by the look of it.
Did he look distressed?
What was he doing when you saw him?
"He was just huddled there, he didn't look too happy."
But pretty quiet?
Yeah.
Oh, no noise until I actually grabbed him,
then he squawked just like he did then
when you took him out of the cage.
Where have you been, huh?
It does seem like a fairly unusual spot
to find a penguin.
You got to think for this little guy,
there aren't many choices.
He's in the city.
There are a lot of built up beaches.
He's going to try and find a rocky area
where he can just go and hide.
Fortunately, we're here soon enough to help him.
You can see there he's missing a lot of feathers.
Now, this is the time of year where they will moult.
And the thing about moulting is that
it takes a huge amount of energy
"out of the system to get rid of the old feathers,"
"but also importantly, produce new ones as well."
Now, if he didn't have enough energy to start with,
then during that whole process,
he just becomes weak and he's really unable
to go to sea and fish enough
to keep his energy levels up.
They're going to need some sort of speed
counter to get that heart rate,
because it is fast.
It's around one eighty.
180 to 200.
So his system is under a bit of strain.
They're pretty safe birds to deal with.
The biggest risk is stress.
For that little
penguin we don't want to handle him for too long,
We don't want to do too much to him.
He's already sick.
We can't just make him even more sick
just through trying to help him.
Alright, Barry, we can put him in there.
We don't want to stress him out too much, obviously.
So in he goes...
Now, he did something very important for us before
"he went in the cage, which was produce that"
and produce that and nearly got you.
So, we might just check out those samples there.
So we're just going to collect this sample here.
Take it back to the clinic.
Concern is that he's very skinny
and these guys do get some internal parasites,
essentially worms.
"They pick up from fish and"
from other penguins as well.
"I think the most likely thing that's happening"
at the moment
is the fact, he has moulted.
He's going through the process of moulting.
To do that he requires a lot of energy,
and if he hasn't
put enough energy into his bank,
which is his fat reserves,
then he can't draw enough out
during these periods to sustain.
If he's lacking energy, he's going to
come ashore and he just can't feed.
"And if he does that, he's in big trouble."
Hi buddy.
Okay, now...
He's certainly not losing that ability.
One of the concerns I had before was the fact that he
might be a bit dehydrated.
The good thing about all seabirds,
is they do absorb water very quickly,
and they absorb it well.
Good bird.
He doesn't really enjoy that.
"- Amazing bird, though.
- They are."
Oh dear.
You're not a big fan of that, are you?
No, he's not overly impressed.
It's not the first time I've actually had a penguin.
When I was a kid, I had not the chore
but the pleasure of raising a penguin.
My dad's a vet up in Newcastle
and he brought a penguin home one day.
Now for an eight year old kid, it doesn't get much cooler
than having your own penguin.
So for a month, I actually fed him and got his strength back
and it's uncanny actually how much
this little guy reminds me of him.
So this is just a wet prep.
So just essentially just a little sample of the poo, plus some
saline.
If there are any bugs in there that're going to move,
then we'll see them under the microscope.
"You get all sorts of little things like protozoa"
and all sorts of little organisms
that could be affecting our penguin.
And you will see them once they move.
They sort of give themselves away underneath this light.
Oh, hang on.
We've got worms here.
So even without concentrating them
by doing that fecal flood,
that's just a small dab of feces.
and I'm seeing a lot of worm eggs here,
which is very important and more than one variety, too.
There's more than one type of worm that's
affecting this little guy.
"When he's already going through the stress of moulting,"
the absolute last thing he needs is to
have this amount of worms in his system.
So now we've actually identified it's worms.
It's a pretty simple treatment.
Just an injection.
Just goes into the muscle there
and that will take effect in the next day or so
and get rid of those worms pretty quickly.
He’s 1.07 kilos.
So he's certainly fully grown,
"- He's an adult at that weight.
- Yeah."
Penguins live in colonies, so he would have family.
Yeah.
It's a funny concept,
that the fact that there might be
a penguin somewhere wondering where he is
and why he hasn't come home for dinner.
But you know, I guess the idea is that
soon enough he'll be back with his family.
The most important thing right now
"is just for him to rest and also build up his strength."
The zoo is coming to pick him up tomorrow,
but in the meantime,
we need to find a nice little spot
for him to to get his strength back.
We're absolutely chockers out the back, there's so many
dogs and cats out there
that are just going to add to his stress.
So I've organized some alternative accommodation.
Hey mate, I just had to ask you.
Yep
Do you mind if I have someone to stay tonight?
An extra person in the house?
No, that's fine.
"- You sure?
- Mate, you don't like,"
of course you don't have to ask me.
"- It's a bird.
- Yeah that's fine."
Her dietary habits are a bit funny, though.
"She's not vegetarian, but she just eats a lot of fish."
No,
No, she likes it raw, so it's alright.
Okay, mate, thank you.
Talk to you later.
So, mate, dinner and accommodation,
it's not too bad, is it?
Alright, now, excuse the mess.
You didn't give me a chance to clean up.
So just close those eyes or something.
Boys.
Just another day at the office.
What have you got, mate?
Penguin.
Little penguin for you.
He washed up at Clovelly this afternoon.
Yeah, wow, and what's wrong with him?
He's a bit weak.
He's moulting at the moment, he's also full of worms which...
...reassuring.
We've treated those, though so there's no risk
to cross-contamination in the house.
Brown, when was the last time you bought a bird home?
That's unnecessary.
Look, at least she likes the surf.
We've got a lot in common.
She likes her fish raw.
So sushi, first date sushi.
Beautiful.
"Do you think they have filleted sardines or pilchards"
in the Antarctic?
Right, look, you make a good point, but
do you think there's some sort of mismatch
in terms of size there?
Do you think that's a fair match for a little penguin?
"You cut the head off a little bit or something, "
but yeah.
"It'll be fine.
Have we got any chopsticks, though?"
We need something to actually force down the fish.
I don't think so.
There is a sushi bar next door, though.
I'll be back in a second.
Can I just grab two chopsticks?
Just the wooden disposal ones.
Is that alright?
Champion.
Thank you.
We got them.
and yeah they thought it was just
a little bit strange but never mind.
Mate our meal is almost complete.
"Chopping boards are usually for chopping,"
not the presentation.
Yeah, but look at this though.
Why wouldn't you present this
in the best possible way?
All jokes aside, we do have a penguin here that is
quite sick, quite fragile, and very malnourished.
So the fish, the chopsticks, all very practical
and it's a little bit Bondi.
We'll see if he takes it.
That's my fingers.
Yeah.
Come on, Paddy.
Come on, mate.
Right now he doesn't really realize that he's got to eat
and you've almost got to make the
decision for them and be a little bit forceful
at the same time.
Because if you do it half hearted,
then there's a risk that that bit of fish
can actually go down his windpipe.
Good penguin.
An interesting little quirk with penguins
is they've actually got two windpipes,
so it's almost double trouble.
So the amount of force required there
is certainly necessary.
Tonight, we've got a pretty quiet
night in store for him.
It's probably his first night in Bondi,
"but it's not going to be an entirely memorable one."
It's just going to be a very quiet night.
There you go, Paddy.
There's your dinner.
He reckons he's probably had better meals than that, too
but, mate, that's all that's on offer I'm afraid.
There you go.
I'll do the washing up as always, hey?
There's no need for that.
Absolutely no need, whatsoever
Alright, now mate
you are going to bed.
"He's had his meal now and now it's time to rest."
He's got a big day again tomorrow
when the zoo comes and picks him up.
So fingers crossed tomorrow
he'll be looking even brighter and going well.
Well it's been a fun day.
We might just leave you there.
Alright mate, goodnight.
There you go.
To Paddy.
Big day for him.
"Another big one tomorrow and hopefully
a good one."
Thanks, mate.
Starting to fatigue a bit.
I had a bit of a think last night
and we've only ever seen Paddy stationary,
so I just really wanted to give him a chance to stretch out
those little flippers of his
and have a bit of a swim around.
Righto, well that should do it.
All we need now is that very essential ingredient
which is water.
There we go.
Just like the real thing.
It's just as well we live close to the beach.
Time for another run.
Alright, that's about right.
Nice little depth for him.
It's just going to give him a good chance to get in there,
stretch out those flippers,
have a bit of a wander around.
But importantly, I'm really interested to see
how he performs
when he's not sitting there still.
Have I got a surprise for you.
You still remember how to use these, do you?
I hope so.
There you go, mate.
How's that?
Bit more like it, isn't it?
Never seen a beach like this before, have you?
"Just appreciate this was not easy to create."
Thanks.
Thanks, that was nice.
"This is normally a party pool, so he's having his own little"
party for one in here.
It's amazing, though, immediately
he seems more at home.
"You put him in here, his eyes brighten up,"
"he wiggles those little flippers like he does,"
he has a shake, a bit of a preen.
You can see this is actually
closer to his natural environment.
And he seems a lot happier.
How's that?
It's good to get back in the water, wasn't it?
He's off to the zoo this afternoon.
"Basically, to undergo a proper rehabilitation."
He needs to develop that new feather coat
" and also needs to build up some extra muscle."
He's going to go through some pretty
difficult times if he goes back to sea now.
We've got to delay that,
and that's where the zoo comes in.
Looking at those little waves, are you?
You want to be out there, don't you?
Hey Barry, how you going?
"- I'm great, how are you?
- Good to see you, mate."
How's that little fella going?
You two have met before obviously.
We sure have.
The situation is we've identified the fact he's got
"some nematodes, so some intestinal parasites."
Treated those.
also fed him some pilchards.
He's had some water
and he's just been rested really overnight.
So look, he's doing well.
I think he's a bit more up today.
Little bit more feisty.
You know, from our end
we've done everything we can.
"- Fantastic.
- Most important thing"
"- Thanks for your help.
- Alright"
"- We'll get him over to the zoo.
- No worries."
"- Alright, thanks Barry.
- Thanks, Chris."
Cheers, mate.
Safe trip.
Hey, how you going?
Hey Gemma, how you going?
Good.
"- You've got the two of them.
- Got two of them."
So Paddy's made a friend.
"Yes, he's made a friend while he's been in"
"- our wildlife hospital.
- Right, now is he in here?"
"- Paddy's in this box here.
- In this one.
Okay.
Beautiful."
"- So you can take him.
- Okay."
"- Okay.
- Let's go down."
How's he gone?
Really well.
He's looking beautiful.
He's finished his moult.
Good.
So he's got spectacular plumage now.
Ready to go out and do all his fishing
and all the things he should be doing.
Now as far as you know the worms
have cleared up that he had?
They've all cleared up.
Yeah, yeah.
It should be pretty common.
It's very common.
Been waiting for this moment.
See how my little boys changed.
There we go, look at that.
New clothes, too.
"- He's had a good moult.
- Yep, beautiful."
Looks absolutely stunning now.
It's been a good holiday for you, hasn't it?
Really regenerated.
A bit of a Taronga detox for him.
Yep.
He just looks so good.
They're wearing matching bling as well.
Yeah they are.
That's nice, Paddy, I like that.
"I'm not sure that's really, you, but I'll let it go."
Just this once.
"So that's obviously so you can identify him"
if he comes ashore again.
"If anything happens to him, if he comes"
in to the zoo again, we're able to track where he's been,
whether he's been ill before.
I'll see you later, mate.
You go out there and make some more friends, alright.
Hopefully we won't see you again.
It's been good, though.
Alright.
Yep, alright.
Okay, you right?
"- There you go, Paddy.
- Off you go, guys."
See you, Paddy.
That's my boy.
I'm actually quite proud of him.
"He swam really well and showed a really good"
interest in getting back out there, but
I hate goodbyes.
Pretty close to tearing up.
It's just good to see him go.
He's done so well
He's just out there, still.
Yep, there they are.