Rescued baby penguin ‘Admiral Paul’ hooked at Margate Pier turns out to be … a girl!

What’s in a name, so might ask? Well, for a rescued baby penguin, hooked by a visiting fisherman at Margate Pier, quite a bit it seems.

The little penguin was initially named Pierre by angler Carl van der Merwe, after the pier. Clever.

However, he was renamed Admiral Paul at uShaka Marine World.

Now, senior behaviourist at uShaka Marine World, Kelly De Klerk, has said that the penguin will now be known as ‘Paulie’ as it is fact a female.

The good news is that she is doing very well under their care.

She has settled in well and is eating healthily, now weighing 1.9kg!

ORIGINAL STORY

Carl van der Merwe from Klerksdorp accidentally caught an African Penguin while fishing off the Margate Pier recently.

Work commitments had brought Carl from the North West to the South Coast for a few days, and when he got a chance he went fishing at Margate Pier in the hope of catching a few shad.

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Carl said he had no luck catching anything with sardine bait, and decided to change to a fish look-alike lure.

After a few casts on the far left point of the pier he caught what he initially thought was a seagull, but to his and the locals surprise it was an African Penguin.

“The penguin was not what I expected to catch, especially not in the warm Natal waters.

Immediately after catching the penguin, locals notified the Lower South Coast SPCA and within minutes they were at the pier taking the penguin into their care,” explained Carl. The cute penguin was initially named Pierre by Carl but has now been renamed Admiral Paul, was then taken to uShaka Sea World in Durban.

Admiral Paul, who was initially taken to the Lower South Coast SPCA before being collected and taken to uShaka Sea World, is the first stranded penguin that they have admitted this year.

“Thankfully, he has no visible injuries and his X-rays are clear. We estimate that he is about three-months-old and should weigh at least two kilograms,” said Kelly de Klerk, uShaka Sea World Senior Animal Behaviourist.

“Admiral Paul weighed in at 1.2 kilograms, so he was definitely underweight and a little dehydrated. It is likely that the baby penguin became separated from his group who were following the sardines and could not cope on his own.”

Despite being underweight, little Admiral is strong, feisty and already able to stand up on his own.

“This means that we are able to feed him small sardines which he is greedily accepting. I believe that he will soon be strong enough to ‘fly’ back to Port Elizabeth into the care of Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) staff who will prepare him for release,” said De Klerk.

South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) thanked those who played a role in ensuring that Admiral is being given a second chance in life.

African Penguins (also known as Jackass Penguins) are endemic to Southern Africa and cannot call anywhere else home.

Unfortunately, since the turn of the 20th century, the world has lost 99 percent of the African Penguin population.

If you come across a marine animal in distress on one of KZN’s beaches, contact SAAMBR at 031 328 8060.

They will then get in touch with members of the KZN Stranding Network stationed closest to you as they can assist in transporting the distressed animal or bird.

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