‘Malnourished’ emperor penguin in rehabilitation after being sighted at Ocean Beach in Denmark

A malnourished Emperor Penguin was spotted at a south coast beach on Friday in a rare sighting — thousands of kilometres from its icy home in Antarctica.

Local surfer Aaron Fowler was at Ocean Beach in Denmark when he saw the animal swimming through the water.

“We had a look what was going on and there was this big bird in the water, and we thought it was another sea bird, but then it kept coming closer to the shore — and it was way too big — and it just stood up and waddled right over to us,” he said.

“We were there for about 10 minutes and it was pretty cool.

“He was not afraid of us at all, I think he might have thought we were penguins because of our wet suits.”

“He was just chilling there and he kind of went up to the dunes a bit.”

Mr Fowler said he was in “shock” when he sighted the penguin, describing it as a “surreal” experience.

“This penguin was just like straight out of a documentary, it was perfect and was making all the penguin noises,” he said.

“It was kind of funny, like as he came out of the water he went to do a tummy slide, like I guess he’s used to on the ice, and he just did a kind of faceplant in the sand and shook all the sand off and looked a bit shocked.

“It wasn’t until we got home and we googled it that we realised this never happens.”

The penguin is currently in the care of Dr Belinda Cannell, Research Fellow at UWA’s School of Biological Sciences, who said it was uncommon for emperor penguins to be so far from Antarctica.

“Tracked non-breeding penguins have never been observed in open water where there is no pack-ice, and never north of 60 degrees South,” she said.

Emperor penguins moult in January and February before fattening up for breeding in winter, with chicks leaving in December, but not all adult emperor penguins breed every year.

A spokesperson for the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions said the penguin’s rehabilitation is expected to take a few weeks.

“A malnourished emperor penguin that landed at Ocean Beach in Denmark on Friday, November 1, remains in the care of a trained and registered local wildlife carer,” they said.

“The wildlife carer working to rehabilitate the Antarctic bird is being supported by a local wildlife officer from DBCA and is receiving ongoing expert advice from the University of Western Australia’s Dr Belinda Cannell.”

Sick or injured wildlife can be reported to the Wildcare Helpline on 08 9474 9055.