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Subscribe to RSSA fugitive penguin on the run in Tokyo Bay for 82 days has been captured. TODAY.com's Brooke Sopelsa reports.
Two months after scaling at 13-foot-high fence to escape a Tokyo aquarium, Japan's now-famous fugitive penguin has reportedly been nabbed.
Two Tokyo Sea Life keepers caught the elusive penguin, known only as Number 337, late Thursday on the bank of one of the rivers leading into Tokyo Bay, the BBC reported.
Penguin scales wall to escape from Tokyo aquarium
Tokyo Sea Life Park / AFP - Getty Images
Tokyo Sea Life Park's escaped Humboldt penguin, known only as Number 337, was captured Thursday after two months roaming free in Tokyo Bay.
The keepers had received a tip-off call earlier in the day -- one of several sightings since the penguin successfully made its bid for freedom in March.
According to the AFP news agency, Number 337 was found under a bridge around five miles from the aquarium.
A spokesman for the aquarium told the BBC that the penguin was in good condition but was being examined.
A penguin that escaped its enclosure in Tokyo two months ago has been spotted bobbing in the waters around the Japanese capital. TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.
"It hasn't lost weight," the spokesman said. "It hasn't got fatter either but its health seems good."
According to the BBC, Tokyo Sea Life Park deputy director Kazuhiro Sakamoto told Japan's Kyodo news agency that he was "relieved to see the penguin come back alive."
After a sighting that was recorded on video earlier this month, Sakamoto said it did not appear that Number 337 was suffering, and said, "It looks as if it's been living quite happily in the middle of Tokyo Bay."
Japan's fugitive penguin 'living quite happily' in Tokyo Bay
The penguin, hatched in 2011, had shared life in a rocky outdoor enclosure at the aquarium with 135 other Humboldts and a number of other penguins prior to its escape.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Now the poor penguin is going back to being down-pressed by the man!
anouther animal making a break for freedom. lets call himm Paul Neuman
New name should be 007
Number 337 had a family dispute apparently with the other Humboldts and other penguins- made a daring escape over 13 ft wall- spent time in the Tokyo Bay frollicking. I'm glad no.337 is back in the Aquarium now it will be time to tell the other penguins of his derring-dos. All's well that ends well. Animal stories are needed in the world amid the perpetual wars,calamities etc. The other making rounds is a husband divorcing his wife because they have 550 cats and he couldn't get into his bathroom.
back to life in prison...poor fellow
And I guess now Tokyo can turn off the Bat signal.
I fear number 337 will be serving a life sentence.
Free Chilly!
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I wonder if the penquin's aquarium is withint eyesight of the bay where the Japanese routinely herd dolphins and then get their kicks by bludgeoning them to death with baseball bats? Maybe he saw his fate?
any penguin that can climb a 13 foot fence with those creepy little wings and feet deserves to have anything he wants...including his freedom...
Agreed, freedom does not mean safe. Let him go!
3+3+7=13.. He did it once he will do it again. Please free him.
4+9/orange^polar.bear = banana nut bread
So cute!
*plays the music from "The Great Escape" again*
Now they call him 'The Cooler King'
How about "Papillon".
That was a good movie.
So sad for the little guy to have to go back. I live a few miles from this aquarium in Japan and their zoos are so sad and cramped. I was so happy when the little guy escaped.
Once they get him back inside and he starts to tell the other penguins about all the food on the outside, all the space to swim around, sure there were some scary things too but it was still fun, he is going to start a trend of escaping penguins from the aquarium. Plus he knows the security secrets on how to get out.
Poor #337. He has to go back to sharing a living space and food with 336 other birds. Well at least he had two months of fun swimming freely in the bay and obviously he found food as he didn't lose any weight. I think after all this the little guy deserves to have a name instead of a number. How about Houdini after the greatest escape artist of all time?!
He left because he hated his neighbors. What a nightmare to have to go back.....
I'm surprised some Asian didn't eat him as an aphrodisiac.
Good one!
"The keepers had received a tip-off call earlier in the day"....... "Fugutive Penguin".........
Hahahaha so funny,, There use of vocabulary is as if this penguin is a big time drug baron LoL
That's quite a mugshot. He's obviously NOT happy to back in the pokey!
The reason it took so long to catch him was because they kept looking up to spot him.
If it meant some votes Obama would invite the Penguin to the White House for a beer
Just for the ingnuity he used to escape they should name him "Rico" after one of the DreamWorks Penguins of Madagascar series on Nickelodeon
He will be held in isolation and stand trial for this escape attempt. I bet the next time more of them go over the fence.
SCREAM....FREEDOM at any price.
Poor Fellow!
This story confirms that all of us, humans and animals love freedom at any price. WIsh they would release them all to live as they are meant to..