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‘World’s oldest’ northern rockhopper penguin killed by fox at Edinburgh Zoo

Mrs Wolowitz - Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
Mrs Wolowitz - Royal Zoological Society of Scotland

She lived through the reigns of seven prime ministers and, as the oldest-known rockhopper penguin in the world, was defying her age despite grey hair and cataracts.

But Mrs Wolowitz, who hatched when the 1980s power ballad Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now topped the charts, this week met a grisly end when she was killed by a fox that got into her enclosure and attacked her at Edinburgh Zoo.

Zoo staff said that the fox had managed to breach the boundary of the enclosure, where around 100 of the seabirds live in its popular Penguin Rock attraction, on Wednesday night.

The 35-year-old, who hatched in 1987 and lived to double her life expectancy, was older than many of her keepers and was one of the zoo’s most popular animals.

Her keepers arrived on Thursday morning to find Mrs Wolowitz dead, with no sign of the fox who killed her or any indication of damage to her enclosure.

Princess Anne, Princess Royal - Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Europe
Princess Anne, Princess Royal - Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Europe

The zoo said that it inspected fencing daily but warned there was “always a risk wild animals would break in”. It will now consider steps to reinforce the boundary.

However, animal-rights activists raised questions over how the fox attack was allowed to happen.

“This sounds like a tragic event,” Bob Elliot, director at the Edinburgh-based charity OneKind, said. “Questions have to be asked around whether the protection afforded to the animals is enough. It is very worrying.”

He added: “I have been fortunate enough to see penguins in the wild, and that’s where they belong, not in collections in zoos. We should be protecting and conserving them in their natural environments.”

Having high standards of animal care and preventing pests and vermin getting into zoos is a condition of holding a zoo licence.

Elisa Allen, vice-president of Peta, said: “We are sure that the premature death of Edinburgh Zoo’s oldest penguin, Mrs Wolowitz, will prompt the zoo to assess its enclosures and take greater care to ensure that none of its inhabitants are put in harm’s way.”

Mrs Wolowitz hatched on May 13 1987, two-and-a-half years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. She celebrated her 35th birthday earlier this year by being presented with a treat of sprats and whitebait.

She had one chick, a male called Mr Green, in 1991 but outlived him when he died in 2016.

The zoo described her as “the oldest and sassiest penguin in the colony”. Staff at the zoo put her longevity down to the fact that she had only had one chick, as repeated pregnancies can be stressful for penguins.

Her close relationship with Mr Green led to zoo staff naming her Mrs Wolowitz, after an overprotective mother in the TV comedy The Big Bang Theory. Zoo staff only started naming individual penguins after the programme debuted in 2007.

‘A bit of a fanclub’

Speaking earlier this year, Dawn Nicoll, senior animal keeper at Edinburgh Zoo, described Mrs Wolowitz as “extraordinary”.

“We all have a soft spot for Mrs Wolowitz,” she said. “She always gives us a honk when we arrive in the morning and then when we shout goodnight at the end of the day.

“She also has a bit of a fanclub among our visitors, who look out for her in her favourite sunny spot.

“But she can be quite feisty. She’ll stand her ground with the juvenile penguins and isn’t afraid to tell them off if they are in her space or annoying her.”

The zoo said the other penguins in the colony were not hurt and are doing well. More than 100 king, gentoo and rockhopper penguins live at the zoo, where they have a 65-metre swimming pool that is up to three-and-a-half metres deep.

Darren McGarry, head of living collections at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which runs Edinburgh Zoo, said: “We were saddened to discover a fox had broken into our penguin enclosure through the night and attacked Mrs Wolowitz, our oldest penguin.

“She was a big personality and a favourite among keepers and visitors, who will miss her. Thankfully, the rest of our colony were unharmed and are doing well

“Our expert teams check the enclosures daily for signs of damage but there is always a risk that wild animals will break in. We will be looking at what we can do to reinforce the boundary.”