Hope Yet For Happy Feet

New Zealand author and entrepreneur Gareth Morgan will join 12 scientists on a 30-day voyage to Antarctica early next year to raise awareness of the importance of the region, and as an “add-on” to the trip will try to prove the wayward emperor penguin Happy Feet — who was released into the Southern Ocean in September — is still alive. After being nursed back to health, Happy Feet caught a ride home on a research ship with an electronic tracker that allowed people to follow his progress on the internet. That signal died only a short time later, prompting many to fear Happy Feet had met with an unfortunate end. In an interview with the New Zealand Herald Gareth Morgan — who paid for the transmitter — said he believed the popular penguin may have simply swum out of range and he plans to mount a mission to find him. “He’s got a radio-chip embedded in him so in theory, we could come across a colony of penguins and go out with a radio transmitter trying to find him,” Morgan said.