Penguin’s escape from Tokyo Sea Life Park has locals on the lookout

Authorities in Japan are on the hunt for a fugitive. Known only as No. 337, the fugitive is sporting a black-and-white tuxedo and is most likely to be found swimming in large bodies of water. No. 337 also stands less two feet tall.

The fugitive in question is a one-year-old Humboldt penguin that escaped from Tokyo Sea Life Park over a month ago, but there have been a rash of sightings of the penguin in recent days. The picture of the penguin (top right) was snapped this past Sunday by someone who spotted it swimming in Tokyo Bay, which is adjacent to the aquarium. A neighbouring zoo also reported a sighting to Tokyo Sea Life Park.

While the park is still unclear on exactly how the penguin escaped, the park's deputy director, Kazuhiro Sakamoto, suggests why it might have made a break for it:

"We think that because of its young age, it might have escaped due to its curiosity and yearning for adventure," said Sakamoto in a Reuters story.

Sakamoto also suggests that the penguin (who is so young, its gender is still unknown to its keepers) might have escaped by scaling a rock wall in the enclosure, which varies in height between four and 13 feet. The bird presumably climbed the wall and then squeezed through a gap in the fence.

Tokyo Sea Life Park has put up photos looking for the penguin and are strategizing how best to capture it. Due to the tremendous speeds it can reach while swimming in the water, park employees are hoping to catch the penguin when it finds a place to sleep on land.

And if you're wondering, this penguin escape isn't like the one in Montreal that happened last December. That 'escape' turned out to be a cleverly-done hoax by animation and design students of a penguin outside of his enclosure. Park employees in Tokyo are still actively looking for little No. 337.

(AFP Photo)