{"id":354592,"date":"2026-03-30T03:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T03:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/354592\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T03:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T03:17:17","slug":"antarctic-penguin-appears-on-remote-wa-beach-4000km-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/354592\/","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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“When we got there, we weren’t ready for what we found.”<\/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>.\u00a0<\/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.\u00a0<\/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.\u00a0<\/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 Bidulp, who cared for the emperor penguin, had been a great mentor.<\/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.\u00a0<\/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.\u00a0<\/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.\u00a0<\/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":354593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[71379,30681,145563,187536,73244,187532,187535,187534,111,139,69,187530,147,187531,187533,5013,406,33635],"class_list":{"0":"post-354592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-avian-influenza","9":"tag-bird-flu","10":"tag-esperance","11":"tag-esperance-wildlife-hospital","12":"tag-heard-island","13":"tag-king-penguin","14":"tag-macquarie-island","15":"tag-mcdonal-islands","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-quagi-beach","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-south-coast-wa","22":"tag-sub-antarctic","23":"tag-wa-news","24":"tag-wildlife","25":"tag-wildlife-sanctuary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}