{"id":860023,"date":"2026-03-30T09:02:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/860023\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T09:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:02:30","slug":"antarctic-penguin-appears-on-remote-wa-beach-4000km-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/860023\/","title":{"rendered":"Antarctic penguin appears on remote WA beach, 4,000km from home"},"content":{"rendered":"

A king penguin from the sub-Antarctic region has been found more than 4,000 kilometres away from home on a remote beach on Western Australia’s south coast.<\/p>\n

Esperance Wildlife Hospital was alerted by campers on Quagi Beach, almost 700km from Perth, to the penguin on shore.<\/p>\n

Rescuer and wildlife carer Lori-Ann Shibish said it was not uncommon for smaller penguin species to lose their way and end up on that stretch of coastline.<\/p>\n

“I just assumed it was going to be a little penguin,” she said.<\/p>\n

When she arrived, she was completely surprised at what she saw.<\/p>\n

\"Penguin<\/p>\n

The king penguin was discovered by campers on Quagi Beach. (Supplied: Esperance Wildlife Hospital)<\/p>\n

Having previously been to Antarctica for a research expedition, Ms Shibish instantly recognised it was a king penguin.<\/p>\n

King penguins are the second-largest penguin species<\/a> and live in ice-free parts of the sub-Antarctic region.<\/p>\n

The region is home to remote Australian territories McDonald Island, Macquarie Island, and Heard Island.<\/p>\n

In 2025, a deadly strain of avian influenza, commonly referred to as “bird flu”, was confirmed on Heard Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Penguins<\/p>\n

King penguins frequent Heard Island and other parts of the sub-Antarctic region.\u00a0 (Supplied: CSIRO\u00a0Matt Curnock)<\/p>\n

Ms Shibish said there had been an alert issued for any migratory or vagrant species from that region since the flu was detected.<\/p>\n

\"Person<\/p>\n

The penguin was put in quarantine while it was tested for bird flu. (Supplied: Esperance Wildlife Hospital)<\/p>\n

The discovery of the penguin prompted a “high-level” biosecurity response from Ms Shibish, using an avian influenza grab kit from Murdoch University to mitigate any possible risk of disease transmission.<\/p>\n

“If you can picture a full hazmat gear, I was completely dressed in white with goggles and with a breathing mask and gloves, in order to ensure that we and the penguin were safe,” she said.<\/p>\n

The penguin was taken back to the Esperance Wildlife Hospital, where Swans Veterinarian Services and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) conducted swab testing for the disease.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Lori-Ann Shibish says she is amazed to see a king penguin in real life. (Supplied: Ian Farrell)<\/p>\n

“The good news is the results returned negative for both H1N1 and something called Newcastle disease,” Ms Shibish said.<\/p>\n

Sighting ‘rare’<\/p>\n

Ms Shibish said it was extremely rare for king penguins to venture so far off course.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Lori-Ann Shibish says it is crucial to be cautious when approaching any seabirds not from the area due to bird flu. (Supplied: Esperance Wildlife Hospital)<\/p>\n

After looking back through other recorded sightings, Ms Shibish believes this was the first sighting in WA since 2011.<\/p>\n

In 2024, an emperor penguin made a similar journey<\/a> from Antarctica to another beach on WA’s south coast, almost 500km from where the king penguin was discovered.<\/p>\n

Ms Shibish said Carol Biddulp, who cared for the emperor penguin, had been a great mentor.<\/p>\n

Mihkel Vaha and his partner, Jamie, who are travelling around Australia in a campervan, were staying by the remote beach when the penguin was discovered.<\/p>\n

“It was a pretty rainy day, and so I took the dogs for a bit of a walk and I was sitting at the top [of the beach],” Mr Vaha said.<\/p>\n

He said he was in disbelief when he spotted the penguin, and called his partner to come take a look.<\/p>\n

“She goes, ‘You’re not looking, don’t be silly, there’s no penguin there.'”<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

Mr Vaha said they made sure to keep their distance, while two other campers called the wildlife hospital.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty cool to see out in the wild.”<\/p>\n

Rest and rehabilitation<\/p>\n

The penguin, who has been named Hope, will remain in a quarantine pen while she undergoes rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Penguins have to be on land when they moult. (Supplied: Lori-Ann Shibish)<\/p>\n

“Esperance is a French word for hope, but referring more to positive expectation or anticipation, rather than a wish,” Ms Shibish said.<\/p>\n

Hope is undergoing a process called “catastrophic moult”, according to Ms Shibish, which may be the reason she came to shore.<\/p>\n

“Prior to a catastrophic moult, a penguin will eat as much as it can to put on that extra weight to then take it through the month-long period where it just has to stand on dry land and wait for the process to complete,” she said.<\/p>\n

“When she came in, she wasn’t at her optimum weight, she was already down by about 6 kilograms.”<\/p>\n

Hope is now eating up to a kilogram of fish a day, and must regain her weight and finish her moult before she is released for her journey home.<\/p>\n

\"Penguin<\/p>\n

‘Hope’ will be released into the ocean when she is ready. (Supplied: Esperance Wildlife Hospital.)<\/p>\n

In the meantime, a mirror has been put in her enclosure to keep her company.<\/p>\n

“With animals that are herd or flock animals, being able to see a reflection of their own kind puts them at ease because they think that they’re not alone,” Ms Shibish said.<\/p>\n

“They think they’re in the company of their own species.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A king penguin from the sub-Antarctic region has been found more than 4,000 kilometres away from home on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3847],"tags":[195733,2325,214689,244928,200309,244924,244927,244926,244922,70,244923,244925,16,15,29592,1717,86554],"class_list":["post-860023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-avian-influenza","tag-bird-flu","tag-esperance","tag-esperance-wildlife-hospital","tag-heard-island","tag-king-penguin","tag-macquarie-island","tag-mcdonal-islands","tag-quagi-beach","tag-science","tag-south-coast-wa","tag-sub-antarctic","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wa-news","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-sanctuary"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116317320280134365","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}