From Kirsa
Hi everyone,
I would just like to share with you all my story of Grumpy the penguin who has been part of my life for the last five weeks.
Grumpy came to me from a kind member of the public in Warrnambool who had found him looking very distressed on the main beach. He was dropped off to the vet clinic and his injured wing had been stitched up and he had been given fluids when I received a call to come and pick him up.
Upon his arrival at home he was weighed and I was rather concerned as he was only 700 grams which is very light for a penguin. After a long chat and much encouragement from Marg Healy at Phillip Island I set about the task of fattening him up.
Over the next couple of weeks Grumpy's weight see-sawed and once dropped to 620gms.
On the phone to Marg Healy in tears fearing I was going to lose Grumpy, she suggested I worm him and stuff as much fish and squid into him as I could.
My house soon took on the aroma of a fish market along with my hair and clothes. I tried to convince the rest of the family that it was a fresh seaside smell but they weren't convinced somehow.
Anyone who has ever dealt with penguins will know they don't take too kindly to being force fed and are rather messy eaters. Grumpy's daily ritual included four to five feeds a day and at least one good bath in which I ended up just as wet as he did. The aviary was converted into a beach (with permanent low tide) complete with a makeshift burrow.
Slowly but surely Grumpy began to gain weight again and became increasingly stroppy towards me. I am still amazed at the sheer amount of fish that bird could consume at one sitting. I could sense that time was fast approaching for us to part company.
With his weight now around 950gms I made the trip down to see Annie Fraser to let Grumpy have a swim in her above ground pool and to check his feathers for the all important water proofing test.
As I tentatively let him go into the deep water he joyfully dived straight underneath and proceeded to swim around the pool at a furious rate. You could almost see the enjoyment on his face.
There he spent the next hour diving and preening himself until it was time to retrieve him out and check those feathers.
Now getting a penguin out of a full sized pool is not an easy task I was considering the possibility of getting in there with him when he finally swam close enough for me to fish him out.
The other problem now was he wasn't just Grumpy anymore he was absolutely furious! He proceeded to peck me with such ferocity and squawk like crazy. "Ahh" said Annie "he is ready to go, that's just his way of telling us" "He has had a taste of freedom now and there is no turning back" Annie continued. We agreed that his feathers were okay.
Upon my return home I spent the next two days feeding him as much as possible and searching for a good release site back at Warrnambool.
Not wanting to release him on the beach (too many dogs and people) I decided to take him to the other side of an Island which you can access via a boardwalk.
Also it was close to where the colonies of penguins are and Marg told me he would be able to find his way back home easily.
I decided Thursday was the day we must part with rough weather forecasted for Friday and the weekend.
So Grumpy and I set off for Warrnambool Thursday lunchtime where I had organised to meet up with friend and fellow wildliner/rescuer Chris Grant.
With one last feed under his belt we took Grumpy to the other side of the Island for his release.
I had checked the tide times in the paper that morning and low tide was supposedly around lunchtime. There were steps down into a little cove where he was to be released but the waves were still far too close for my liking.
Anyone who knows me will know I am absolutely petrified of the sea as much as I love it. As I could feel myself turning a whiter shade of pale I asked Chris if he would set Grumpy free for me. After fruitlessly trying to convince me the waves wouldn't wash over the particular rock he was standing on he agreed of course.
With me holding the camera Chris took Grumpy out of his carry box and placed him on the sand. In an instant he was off diving into the waves without a second glance. He knew where he was going I'm sure of it, he was home!
We stood and watched him for as long as we could occasionally catching a glimpse of that little head bobbing between the waves before he would dive under once more.
I thought about Grumpy a lot last night wondering if he was okay and my house still smells like the beach this morning as I am typing this. I will miss him. He was a lot of hard work but I would do it again in an instant. Thanks Chris for helping me. Thankyou also to Marg Healy and to Annie and Old Bill. Thankyou to my family for putting up with the smell, it was a change from the usual possum pee aroma! Did I shed a tear at the release? You bet!
Kirsa
