A one year old penguin that escaped from Tokyo’s Sea Life Park in March has been giving the Tokyo Coast Guard the slip in the city’s bay. The Humboldt penguin got away after somehow managing to climb a four meter high rock face, and then slipping through a barbed-wire fence. Officials say he’s been repeatedly spotted in the Tokyo Bay since then, but any attempts to catch him have failed.
Known only as “number 337,” the park’s animal keepers were able to recognize him by a distinguishing colorful ring that is around one of his flippers. They say the penguin looks healthy, and does not appear to be losing weight. They suspect he’s been getting by with eating small fish in the bay and resting on the shores at night.
Immediately after his escape, some of the aquarium employees went to the bay on daily searches to find the penguin. He’s been pleasing lucky onlookers for the last two month who have been able to spot him from bridges or the shores and try to snap pictures in time. When Coast Guard patrols do manage to find number 337, he always manages to get away before they can close enough to catch him.