If you’ve seen Blackfish, the documentary on SeaWorld and their mistreatment of killer whales, you’d be forgiven for wanting to break into a marine park and free the animals forced to call it home.

That was probably the thinking behind the two Port Elizabeth students who stole a penguin called Buddy from a local marine park, then released him into the Indian Ocean.

Noble, maybe. Stupid – certainly, because it turns out they’ve done far more damage than good. IOL reports:

The endangered African black-footed penguin was taken from Bayworld in Port Elizabeth in the early hours of Wednesday last week, put in a car and taken the short distance to the coast…

Security camera footage showed the two students, both in their 20s, entering the penguin enclosure at night after parking their car outside. They released Buddy at nearby Pollock Beach…

The students, who have not been named, confessed to the crime and said it was a demonstration against animals being kept in captivity…

Here’s why that was a complete brain fart, according to Dylan Bailey, manager of the Bayworld Oceanarium:

Bailey warned that three-year-old Buddy who was raised in captivity, faced certain death in the ocean.

“Although Buddy is a healthy penguin and should have enough energy to survive for up to three weeks in the wild, he is a captive raised bird that is now in an unfamiliar environment,” Bailey said. “He simply does not have the experience necessary to survive.”

Penguins normally mate for life, and Buddy has been taken away from his partner Francis [with chick, above].

They had two chicks, though one died previously.

Bailey also said the park is still deciding what legal action, if any, should be taken against the misguided students.

Park staff have been patrolling the coast hoping to spot Buddy, who is not fitted with a tracker, but does have an identification tag on his left flipper.

Come on PE folk, launch a full-scale penguin hunt and reunite Francis with her lost lover. After all, it’s not like you’ve got much else going on.

Jokes, kinda.

[source:iol]