Nesting penguins can’t resist lure of New Zealand sushi shop

Two little blue penguins just couldn’t stay away from a New Zealand sushi store, returning to nest re even after police h captured m and escorted m back to ocean. Wellington police described m as “wdling vagrants,” while store’s co-owner joked he h idea that word of his tasty raw fish h reached as far as subaquatic community.

But Jack Mace, an operations manr for Department of Conservation, said birds would have simply thought y h found a snug burrow underneath store and wouldn’t have taken te of what was being sold above m.

“y were within penguin commuting distance of harbor, and y thought y’d found a nice spot,” Mace said.

Police got first call about a penguin loose in city on Saturday night, after somebody reported spotting a grumpy bird under a parked car. Police said y mand to release it back into ocean.

n police started taking more calls on Monday and found two penguins huddled under Sushi Bi store near capital’s busy train station.

“ wdling vagrants were removed from ir sushi stand refuge earlier today by Constable John Zhu,” police wrote on ir Facebook p. “Unsurprisingly, this was t first report police h received about fishy birds.”

And it turned out it wouldn’t be last. Within hours, two penguins were back underneath shop.

Watch venture of penguins . 

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Co-owner Long Lin said he was tidying up stor room when he heard a sound from near water tank. He walked outside and peered underneath store and thought he was looking at a pigeon.

“And n I was like, ’Oh my God, it’s a penguin,” he said. “I was panicked. I didn’t kw what to do.”

He called authorities, but meanwhile penguins wdled out. So he grabbed m one by one and put m inside store. He said second penguin pecked at him several times, leaving red welts on his chest.

“It was a bit wild,” he said.

Inside store, birds strutted about seemingly without a care, to amazement of worker Shawnee Kim.

“Really cute,” she said.

Kim said she tried offering m some fresh salmon, but y didn’t seem interested. Mace said rangers mand to extract birds from under store’s freezer and put m in a special nesting box on harbor, which is about a 200-meter (660-foot) wdle from store. Mace said penguins haven’t been seen since and may be out at sea.

He said population of little blue penguins has rebounded in Wellington thanks to efforts of people who have removed predators from three islands in harbor and have helped with or conservation efforts, like building artificial nest boxes. Little blue penguins typically start looking for nesting spots in July and start laying eggs in August.

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