You may have noticed in the news back in June that a penguin had lost its course and ended up stranded on a beach in New Zealand. It was an odd sight to say the least and the emperor penguin, nicknamed ‘Happy Feet’, rapidly shot to stardom worldwide.

It was the first confirmed sighting of a wild penguin in New Zealand in more than 44 years and experts were baffled as to how the three year old had ended up so far away from his Antarctic home. It is thought that he must have taken a wrong turning whilst out hunting for squid with his pack.

The lost creature soon fell ill after eating large amounts of sand, mistaking it for snow and he become dangerously dehydrated. He was swiftly taken to a nearby Wellinton Zoo (where he soon became the star attraction) and nursed back to health. He made a speedy recovery and when he was fit and well enough, he was transported back deep into the Southern Ocean. He was released into the water around 2000km from the Antarctic and experts were happy that he’d find his way home.

With so much attention on the whole story, it was only natural that the experts who had nursed him back to health wanted to track his progress on finding his way home. In order to do this, a satellite tracking device was attached to him, which allowed for his progress to be monitored. People all over the world could log on to a website and see for themselves how he was getting on

However, on Monday it was revealed that contact had been lost with the giant bird. With no tracking, it is impossible to know the fate of poor little Happy Feet. We can only hope that the transmitter failed and he’s making good headway on his journey home.

Here’s a clip of the little chap being (less than gracefully) released back into the wild on Sunday. We’ve got everything crossed for him and we’re sure he’ll be doing just fine!