Police pick up penguin found walking along street in Nottinghamshire

Officers say 'friendly bird' was safely returned home after early hours stroll

Nottinghamshire Police found the penguin in the early hours of Sunday morning on a proactive patrol in Strelley (PA)

A penguin has been returned to its home in Nottinghamshire after police spotted the bird “plodding up a village street”.

Officers from Nottinghamshire Police said the Humboldt penguin, which had escaped from a farm enclosure, was found in the early hours of last Sunday morning and “posed for some pictures” with the force.

In a post on Broxtowe North Police’s Facebook page, officers joked that they quickly moved to question the “friendly bird” on what it was doing walking in the middle of a road when it was found on a patrol in Strelley, near Nottingham.

“We see some very interesting things while out on patrol, but a penguin walking up the middle of the road has to be one of the more bizarre findings we have come across,” PC Gareth Philp, from Nottinghamshire Police, said.

“We nicknamed him Po-Po. He posed for some pictures with us and he was very friendly with our officers while we made contact with his owner.

“He was then safely returned home.”

Neighbourhood Inspector Gordon Fenwick, from Nottinghamshire Police, said officers had been trained to deal with “a variety of incidents with complex demands” and added that he was pleased to see the penguin reunited with their owner.

In 2019, two stolen Humboldt penguins were also rescued by police officers in the area following a tip-off.

Nottinghamshire Police found the pair of birds in Strelley village after they were taken from a zoo, which was not named, in November 2018.

“My first thought was this is one for the books, and one to tell the grandkids, because there's no way we thought we would go down there and actually find two penguins,” Sgt Andrew Browning said of the find.

Humboldt penguins are native to South America and are named after the cold water current they usually swim in - which takes its name from the Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt.

Additional reporting by PA