Published
4 years agoon
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Two little blue penguins just couldn’t stay away from a New Zealand sushi store, returning to nest there even after police had captured them and escorted them back to the ocean.
Wellington police described them as “waddling vagrants,” while the store’s co-owner joked he had no idea that word of his tasty raw fish had reached as far as the subaquatic community.
“The waddling vagrants were removed from their sushi stand refuge earlier today by Constable John Zhu,” police wrote on their Facebook page. “Unsurprisingly, this was not the first report police had received about the fishy birds.”
And it turned out it wouldn’t be the last.
Within hours, the two penguins were back underneath the shop.
Co-owner Long Lin said he was tidying up the storage room when he heard a sound from near the water tank. He walked outside and peered underneath the store and thought he was looking at a pigeon.
“And then I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s a penguin,” he said. “I was panicked. I didn’t know what to do.”
He called authorities, but meanwhile the penguins waddled out. So he grabbed them one by one and put them inside the store. He said the second penguin pecked at him several times, leaving red welts on his chest.
“It was a bit wild,” he said.
Penguins make their way in a sushi shop in Wellington, New Zealand. (Shawnee Kim via AP)
Inside the store, the birds strutted about seemingly without a care, to the amazement of worker Shawnee Kim.
“Really cute,” she said.
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