The Penguin Who Wore Shoes

On this episode of Our American Stories, an elderly penguin named Enrique lived at the St. Louis Zoo. After being diagnosed with arthritis in his feet, the zoo began trying to find ways to make him comfortable. Marija Elden, the Zoological Manager of Birds, shares Enrique’s journey to owning a pair of pretty cool kicks.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything on this show, and
we love your story. Send them to our American Stories
dot com. Here's some of our favorites. Today, you're going
to hear from Maria Elvin Forria is the zoological manager
of birds is Saint Louis Zoe. She'll be speaking on
behalf of Enrique, a thirty year old penguin with arthritis

(00:33):
who just so happens to wear shoes.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Enrique is a Southern rockhopper penguin and he is an
elderly bird. He's about thirty years old. Penguins tend to
live about fifteen years old. Penguins that live and zoos
live a very cushy life. He's just a gentle bird.
He is really easy going. That's unlike rockhoppers a little bit.

(00:59):
Rockhoppers are very vivacious, very in your face, but Enrique
kind of has a softer side to him. He is
quite the handsome little bird. He's got a girlfriend and apparently,
as we found out this morning, another female liked what
she saw, so this morning he had two girlfriends. Enrique

(01:24):
came to Saint Louis Zoo in twenty sixteen, and he
prior to that had lived at Omaha Zoo. Zoos talked
to each other a lot, and before any zoo receives
any animal, there is a lot of communication. What does
the animal like, what does it not like, behaviors that

(01:44):
are good and maybe some that are not so good.
And the veterinarians also receive a lot of information about
medical history. He had signs of arthritis already at that point,
and so there was no surprise. We didn't just open
a box of penguins and see that one wasn't feeling well.
We knew what we were getting and we were prepared,

(02:05):
and that's super important with arthritis. You notice that they're
slowing down a little bit, maybe not coming up for
food just as fast, maybe wait for some of the
more spry neighbors to run up to the food first.
And our keepers are really well versed in not only
general bird behavior, but we hone in on the individuals too,

(02:28):
So when one is feeling off a little bit, we
know right away Enrique is an active swimmer, and that's great,
but we couldn't have any topical creams that alleviate some
of the arthritic pain. They will kind of rinse away,
so thinking outside the box can help us. I think

(02:52):
animal people are a special group of people where very
few things surprise us because we have to think outside
out of the box. So often. With humans, an arm
as an arm and a leg as a leg, but
with animals there's so much variation. Our veterinary team, who
are really great at coming up with all sorts of ideas,

(03:13):
found a company that makes little shoes for working dogs
and dogs that just need additional help after injuries. So
our vets were able to connect with that company. We
were able to trace and Riquet's feet and get measurements,
and the amazing people who can sew very well made

(03:34):
the shoes for him. The first time we put them on,
he kind of looked at his feet and looked at
us and then took off running. What the shoes do
is just to protect his feet and give a little
bit of extra padding for him. The original pair that
was sent, we found that he just needed a little

(03:56):
bit more cushion and it needed to give a little
bit more grip. With rock hopper penguins, their feet are
very important. They grip the rock as they're climbing up.
But because we just put shoes on him. He couldn't
quite grip, so we ended up receiving a second pair
of shoes. Now, this pair of shoes was hot pink

(04:17):
on the bottom as opposed to the first set of shoes,
which was all black. But no one cared. A few
just kind of looked. Some kind of tried to come
over and check it out, but he would just tell
him no. He is very vocal and he bites. So
once everyone figured out, like, he's not gonna let you
mess with his shoes, he was good. He was golden.

(04:42):
It has become such a routine for him that he
really doesn't mind, and it makes little difference to his mate.
So we do put them on at about ten o'clock
in the morning and take them off at about three.
His mate Paris, she just sees him go up and
he comes back and she's like, okay, this is great.
Sometimes you'll see him with his wing over her, which

(05:05):
is very cute. It is nice that he does get
some time to just be a penguin. We really take
his behavior into account. We do know that it does
provide him with some comfort, just based on the way
that he stands. We keep track on a weekly basis
to make sure is he eating, is he getting around?
And what we have seen is that he does swim

(05:27):
with the boots on too, and that's an important factor
for penguins. Penguins should swim, and he does still swim.
He is still social with his mate. They preen each
other all the time, and as long as he is
doing those things and having a good appetite, we know
that he is comfortable. Since we have tried this out,

(05:51):
our veterinarians have been in contact with a few other
zoos who asked us how it went, and they considered
it for some of their penguins. So the shoes are spreading.
There are a few other penguins that are getting some
relief too. The opportunities to enrich the lives of our
animals are endless, and it really takes a lot of

(06:13):
innovation and collaboration to continue to provide the best care
for these animals. It is great that the story is
getting out about Enrique and his shoes, but it is
also such a minor thing for us. We made him comfortable,
and that was our job. There are so many other
things that we do for our animals that maybe are

(06:35):
just not quite as visible, but also have a big impact,
and I just hope that the story helps the guests
that visit Saint Louis Zoo see the dedication that we
put into the care for all of our animals.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
And beautiful production work by Madison on the piece, and
a special thanks to Maria Eldon, who is the zoological
manager of birds at the Saint Louis Zoo. And it's
a world class zoo. I spent many summers in my
life in Saint Louis and that was always one of
my favorite days. And I don't know many kids or
adults who don't love just visiting a zoo. If you
get to Saint Louis, by all means, visit this terrific zoo.

(07:14):
What a thing that Maria just said. We made him comfortable.
That's our job. Indeed, it is crafting a special pair
of shoes for a thirty year old arthritic penguin named Enrique.
That story here on Our American Stories Folks. If you
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(07:35):
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Speaker 2 (07:49):
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