Pringle

There were originally eight of them kept in open, barred and cramped boxes on the cold deck of a far Eastern fishing vessel. Fed on discarded fish guts they were eaten at will when the time was right. The refrigeration on the long range vessel was reserved for the catch only and birds were a staple diet, of the poorly fed crew. The crew had also manufactured small bird traps in which exhaused, migrating birds would take shelter on their long journeys, and the cook used to check these daily, his rice dishes ( a kind of evil smelling, yellow feathery dish) could only be palatable to a near starving person, "Rhino`s" was rife (Rino- saw- asses), amongst the crew.

Pringle was one of the three remaining King penguins to be rescued from the vessel after it was impounded for a "fisheries" problem?

He made his way to us at the park through a series of near misses, import problems and plane journeys until one day he was standing, outside my office, in his cage, having just been delivered by a Zoo collegue of ours. The other two a pair ( not easy to sex penguins) were sent to another zoo that already had a collection of "Kings" and we were allowed Pringle, I guess to start ours?

Initially he had to be quaranteened and so he was installed in his own cage within a ministry inspected, secure compound, with a small pool and a number of chickens, not only to keep him company, but to die first ( as they would have done) if he carried "Foul Pest" or avian flue or similar ) so that he also could have been destroyed and safely incinerated too if that was the case. It wasnt, and he passed with flying colours . The chickens however were religated to "Carnivores" having been corn fed and generally well looked after during their sabattical :o)) (incidently, we didn`t tell Pringle ).

Pringle was taken to the main penguin exhibit where he was introduced to the much smaller specis who accepted him in a moment. He spent his days "presiding" in the centre of the enclosure by the edge of the pool, like a major-domo exhibiting a very aloof characterwhilst periodically making the loudest of calls, much like an old telephone ringing underwater.

I mention "Preside by the pool" as for Pringle there was no fiery displays of acrobatic swimming no sharp athletic subterranean twists and turns, no ariel leaps out of the water at speed!!!!! as Pringle just couldn`t swim and shewd absolutely no interest in the water what so ever. The Keepers tried to coax him into the water and indeed even starved him a bit to try to get him to fetch fish from the pool, but he would go hungry. It was decided that he would have to be taken into the water by the head Keeper wearing waders ( the head keeper that is not pringle) and that he would soon get acclimatised properly to the water. Wrong!!!!!!! the due day came and Pringle sensed there was something going on and kept out of everybodies way until he was uncerimoniously collected up into the arms of the head Keeper who walked down into the pool to lower him into the water. He Flapped and bit and kicked as much as his little feet would allow him too until the keeper couldn`t hold him anymore and dropped him. He then splashed and flapped untill the now soaked through keeper managed to get him up from the bottom and back to the side again where he stood up and glared at him as much as to say "There" I told you I couldnt swim". We had been ensuring that he was fed on the correct diet of oily fish etc so his coat would support him in the water but he really couldntt swim.

During the years that Pringle gained fame as a "celebrity Penguin" he was seen only a few times entering the water of his pool and then only up to his neck before he would walk out again. He did however appear on the "Diana Doors" show where she would interview famous guests around her luxury swimming pool. She asked pringle to try to swim "just for her" but with no luck, he was placed in the water and promptly ran out again, shaking and complaining and making his call which promptly shot the sound levels on the set and startled the participants.

I have lost count of the amount of times that he appeared in the press and on television, but I do remember that one of his traits when being filmed for the TV was that when the red transmit light came on, on the relevant camera, to indicate that filming was taking place. He would turn to face squarly into the camera, fluff out his chest and turn his head a quarter turn into his best possible penguin pose. there he would stay until the light went off and he could relax and wander off to another camera or interviewer.

Pringle was named after Sir Stewart Pringle, the comandant general of the Royal Marines who was wounded in the Faulklands war. Pringle departed this world after a long life of relative penguin luxury (considering where he came from)