We meet Flop the penguin at Dudley Zoo, who is now completely rehabilitated after being unable to walk.
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00:00Hello, I'm James McRaevich and welcome to Dudley Zoo. More specifically, welcome to
00:03Penguin Bay and the isolation centre where some of the younger penguins are
00:07going in here. I'm here with Nicola, she is one of the many keepers here at the
00:12zoo. Tell us a bit about what we're here for today. Tell us about Flop first of all.
00:16So yeah, you guys are here to meet Flop. She's one of the penguins we've hand-reared
00:19this year and unfortunately she did encounter a few health problems a
00:22while ago so it's just a bit of a happy story about her recovery really. I mean
00:26what was the story about, what did she get ill with first of all and what's
00:29been the sort of recovery since? So basically she started off life just fine
00:33but we've been hand-rearing for a little while and she developed a bit of a limp
00:36and then within 24 hours she was completely off her feet, couldn't move at
00:40all. Took her to the vet, she had x-rays, she had bloods and that actually
00:44identified that she was fighting an infection. So we started off on
00:48antibiotics and from then on it's basically been trials and tribulations
00:53of trying to get her to use her feet again and her legs. And it's not just been
00:56sort of one process, you've tried all sorts of different ways to get her
00:58healthy again. Yeah so originally because she was such a young bird she was still
01:01growing at the time when this happened so the first part of the battle was
01:04actually getting enough food into her that she could take her medication and
01:08she didn't get too stunted in her growth and then after that once the
01:12infection was cleared up it was a case of trying to get to regain the use of a
01:16leg so we tried, and these were all homemade, a baby bouncer, a treadmill and
01:21like a stroller that you maybe put a toddler in when they're sort of learning
01:25to walk. So we tried doing all sorts of penguin friendly versions of that sort
01:28of thing. What was the thing that ultimately succeeded? Realistically it
01:32was her and her attitude really. She never actually gave up at any point and
01:36but once she was big enough and we could bring her up here, I mean all of those
01:40things I've just listed were basically to get her to start engaging her hips
01:43and start to get her taking her own body weight. But once she could join the
01:47other penguins to an extent but getting that pool, a lot of hydrotherapy, we've
01:51also had a physiotherapist in to see her. But all in all it's been her effort. If
01:55she'd have given up at any point then you know we wouldn't have got to this
01:58point. And you've now got a happy and healthy penguin? We do and the big hope
02:01is that she should be out and all of the other boys and girls in here will be
02:05able to go out and join the colony and be fully productive in penguin society.
02:08So all in all it's a good news story for Dudley Zoo and Castle? Absolutely
02:12fantastic news for us. From something that started off at one point was very
02:15very bleak in its outlook, it's a fantastic happy ending for us. And if
02:19people want to come and see Flop, when can they do so? Absolutely, Dudley Zoo is
02:23open 364 days of the year anyway. Our grotto starts up so we're hoping there'll
02:27be lots of people coming to see us soon. Obviously she is in this isolation
02:30area but normally this door is open, they've got freedom to come and go as
02:33they please. And then hopefully we will have them out in the main group
02:36within the next couple of months. So come and see penguins, come and see Santa and
02:40come and see Flop because this is a good news story.