‘Long walk to Antarctica’: Police catch ‘curious’ penguin who escaped from Budapest zoo

“As it would have been a long walk to Antarctica, they caught the bird, wrapped in a blanket, and handed over,” the law enforcement agency jokingly wrote on its website. Sharing photos of the “adventurer who was in the mood for a dawn walk” along with the officers they rescued it, they added the penguin was safely handed over to the local zoo.

The Budapest Metropolitan Zoo and Botanical Garden, from where the bird escaped, said that the offender in question is called Sanyika, who is just six months old.

“It may be news to some, but penguins become so curious at 4-6 months of age that they try to explore their environment as much as possible,” the zoo wrote on Facebook talking about Sanyika’s “voyage of discovery”.

They added that the inquisitive bird somehow managed to go outside its enclosure and wandered into the streets. However, to make sure such incidents are averted next time, the zoo authorities have installed cameras in the penguins’ enclosure and are closely monitoring the penguin troop.

They also added that the zookeepers are trying their best to keep an eye on Sanyika to ensure that the bird “stays with the team during these curious times”.

The tongue-in-cheek post left netizens in splits who couldn’t stop drawing parallels to the Penguins of Madagascar.