A young Royal penguin found on the Wairarapa coast, thousands of kilometres from its Antarctic home, has died.
The bird was found critically ill on the Wairarapa coast on Sunday and rushed to Wellington Zoo for urgent medical care.
The zoo's manager of veterinary science, Lisa Argilla, said the penguin died overnight on Thursday.
Dr Argilla said the most likely cause of death was multiple organ failure due to the bird being severely underweight.
