Zoo keepers to pick up the penguins

EDINBURGH Zoo is hosting a penguin parade today as 29 residents move into a temporary new home.

The Gentoo penguins will be carried by keepers from their normal enclosure, which is being refurbished.

A 15-minute long parade will see 29 keepers each carry one of the birds to Barbary Rock, the old rock hyrax enclosure, which has been converted into a temporary home for the Gentoos.

The penguin enclosure is undergoing an intensive maintenance programme, which is expected to take around two months. Two-thirds of the zoo’s penguin colony have been rehomed away from the city.

Colin Oulton, bird team leader at Edinburgh Zoo, said: “Although it will be an extraordinary site to see 29 keepers walking through Edinburgh Zoo each with a Gentoo penguin tucked under their arm, it’s actually the quickest and kindest way to carry out the move.”