Staff at Dudley Zoo are delighted to share some happy news from Penguin Bay as they welcomed three new Humboldt penguins to start rebuilding their colony following the devastating avian malaria outbreak.

The ten month-old male juveniles arrived last week from Curraghs Wildlife Park in the Isle of Man and are currently settling into an off-show area.

The boys will soon join the zoo’s remaining five penguins, females Banjo, Sparky, Nell, Jake and male, Elliot in the public walkthrough exhibit and it's hoped, in time, will breed and boost numbers of the rare species further. Zoo Director, Derek Grove, said:

“After losing almost all of our 70-strong Humboldt colony to a devastating outbreak of avian malaria at the start of 2022, we’ve focused our efforts into continuing to care for the surviving penguins and putting into place additional preventative measures to deter any reoccurrence.

“It’s been an incredibly testing time for our bird team, but these three new arrivals are very special, as they’ll hopefully play an important role in being founding members of DZC’s new Humboldt colony as we aim to replicate our past success of having one of the largest self-sustained groups in the country once more.”

Listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to a declining population, the South American-native species is threatened by climate change, habitat destruction and over-fishing.