Rogue Penguins Break Out of Zoo Yet Again

ABC News

Some pesky penguins in the Japanese city of Suzaka are acting like characters in a "Madagascar" movie and are giving zookeepers quite the headache with their repeated attempts to break free.

A pair of 3-month old chicks from Suzaka Zoo first escaped earlier this month by jumping off a slide. Zookeepers responded by attaching boards to the foot of the slide, but two days later another chick got out, by crawling under the fence, according to Japanese media reports. Keepers responded a second time, by sealing off the bottom of the fence.

Early this morning, that same bird made yet another successful escape by hopping over the fence. Zookeepers spotted it swimming in a nearby pond a few hours later.

Zoo officials say they plan to keep the four young penguins in an indoor cage with concrete walls and nets, for now.

Japan is no stranger to rogue birds. Earlier this year, a Humboldt penguin known only as "Penguin 337? made a daring escape from a Tokyo aquarium and managed to elude capture for 82 days. He was eventually captured in Tokyo Bay.