Penguin 'prank' leads to charges
Image: Luke Marsden
Three men have been charged with theft, trespass and unlawfully keeping a protected animal by police in Queensland, Australia after they stole a fairy penguin from the Gold Coast Sea World following a night out. It is understood that the three men, who multiple sources have claimed were intoxicated, partially undressed and swam with the park's dolphins before gaining entry to the penguin enclosure and taking the seven-year-old male named Dirk (pictured) back to their hotel room.
The trio were allegedly caught after boasting about the incident on Facebook. One of the three, who gave his name as Rhys Jones, has said "Still a bit fuzzy about the whole thing but on behalf of the three of us we are very sorry and it was just a prank which went way too far”, adding that "We are all three of us sorry to Sea World for the time lost in them searching for Dirk and we're glad he's all right."
Dirk was eventually returned to Sea World after being found in a nearby estuary, with a passer-by raising the alarm after seeing the penguin being chased from the water by what was speculated to be a shark and then being chased back in by a dog. Fortunately, Sea World was able to recover him and he is apparently exhausted but unharmed. The three men are due to appear in court on Wednesday 2nd May.
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
