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.

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Penguin scales wall to escape from Tokyo aquarium

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.

"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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Two British tourists who broke into an Australian theme park and stole a penguin following a drunken night out have each been fined $1,030, according to reports.

Rhys Owen Jones, 21, and Keri Mules, 20, appeared before magistrates in Brisbane Wednesday and pleaded guilty to trespassing, stealing and keeping a protected animal, Australia’s Department of Justice said.

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The two friends, from Wales, were arrested after breaking into Sea World on Queensland’s Gold Coast during an alcohol-fueled escapade on April 14.

They also swam with dolphins and let off a fire extinguisher in a shark enclosure, according to a BBC News report.

The pair were in the country on a working holiday visa when the incident took place.

They sneaked into the animal park along with Australian James Vasilj, 18, after drinking vodka at a beach party, according to a report on news website Wales Online.

They then snatched the fairy penguin, called Dirk, from an aquarium before waking up with the flightless bird in their apartment the following day, the report said.

The friends’ lawyer Bill Potts told Southport Magistrates’ Court that they meant no harm to the animal and tried to care for it by feeding it and putting it in the shower when they woke up with hangovers, a situation reminiscent of the film, The Hangover.

Jones and Mules took photo and video footage of the animal before releasing it into a canal, but were arrested after a friend saw updates they had posted about their antics on Facebook and reported them to police.

Magistrate Brian Kucks heard how the pair had written a letter of apology to Sea World and the Australian public, and deeply regretted their actions.

He was reported to have told the pair, “You could have found yourselves in a morgue if you’d gone into the wrong enclosure. Perhaps next time you are at a party you will consider drinking a little less vodka.”

Vasilj, who is facing a single charge of trespassing, had his case adjourned to June 27.

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Sometimes regular meals and the companionship of scores of other penguins just aren't enough. Penguin Number 337 seems to have decided something was missing from life at a Tokyo aquarium and took off.

The one-year-old Humboldt penguin scaled a rock wall and squeezed through a fence during a daring bid for freedom some time in the past week, sparking a penguin hunt that included a city-wide call for information on the tubby fugitive.

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Tokyo Sea Life Park, on the shores of Tokyo Bay, was alerted to the escape of the bird, known only by its number, after receiving a photograph on Sunday that supposedly showed it swimming in the bay.

'Yearning for adventure'
Kazuhiro Sakamoto, the park's deputy director, thinks it may have been a case of happy feet.

"The penguin hatched last year on January 27, so it is still a very young penguin," Sakamoto said.

"We think that because of its young age, it might have escaped due to its curiosity and yearning for adventure."

The bird, still too young for keepers to determine whether it was male or female, shared life at a rocky outdoor enclosure with a view of the sea with 135 other Humboldts and a number of penguins of other breeds. Humboldts grow to 22-28 inches long and can weigh up to 13 pounds.

Animal Tracks: Penguin on the loose

But getting out would have been far from simple.

"There's a man-made rock wall that varies between 4 to 13 feet high. After somehow climbing over it and getting out, it appears the penguin managed to squeeze through a gap in the outer fence," Sakamoto said.

Worries over dirty sea water
Worried that the penguin might have strayed out to sea, keepers issued a Tokyo-wide call for tips on the feathered fugitive and are making regular patrols along the shoreline in front of the aquarium, staring out to sea with binoculars.

Visitors said they were worried about the bird. The area around the aquarium, which sits where the Edo River empties into the bay, consists of high-rise apartment buildings and concrete, with a highway looping overhead.

"The sea water around here is very dirty, so unless the penguin is returned to safety quickly it may die," said Hiroki Kasai, a university student.

Others felt it may have gone in search of more salubrious living quarters, noting that the penguin enclosure was much more cramped than its natural habitat.

Sakamoto said the waters of the bay were full of fish so the penguin was unlikely to starve -- but that it was also unlikely to head for Peru or Chile, the ancestral home of Humboldts.

"It's a type of penguin that tends to stay close to shore, but I also think it would not be able to cross all of that wide ocean."

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