STUNNED locals were frozen to the spot after seeing a penguin waddling along a beach in Kent.
A jogger captured footage of the flightless bird — normally found in the Southern Hemisphere — in sub-zero Ramsgate.
3The penguin was spotted on the beach in Ramsgate, Kent
3A jogger captured footage of the flightless bird — normally found in the Southern Hemisphere — in sub-zero Ramsgate, picturedCredit: Getty
3Natasha Parry, 41, also clocked the out-of-place bird before it plunged into the freezing English ChannelCredit: Louis WoodHe can be heard saying in shock: “It’s a f***ing penguin.”
Natasha Parry, 41, also clocked the out-of-place bird before it plunged into the freezing English Channel.
The mum of four said: “I was walking my dog when I saw what I thought was a penguin but when I got closer it waddled into the sea and shot off.
“I told my friends and they thought I had gone insane. It’s absolutely crazy to think that a penguin would be here in Ramsgate. It’s definitely the weather for penguins, it’s been absolutely freezing.
“A lot of people are saying they feel sorry for it — it’s a lost penguin and it has been separated from its family.”
Last night experts were establishing whether it had escaped from a zoo.
But some people suggested it may have been lured by our Arctic conditions and swam 6,000 miles from South Africa.
Others claimed it could be a similar-looking bird such as a guillemot. However the hashtag SavePingu was spreading in a bid to rescue it.
Natasha added: “I know what I saw. We don’t care what anyone says, that’s our Pingu, the Ramsgate Penguin.”
Story Credit: thesun.co.uk