Supplied
A juvenile king penguin said to have come from the Sub Antarctic Islands some thousands of kilometres away, came ashore on a "very busy beach" on the Garden Route on Wednesday.
According to Carol Walton of the Seabird and Penguin Rehabilitation Centre, they took in the penguin and placed it in total isolation after it surprised beachgoers at Second Beach.
She said this was to avoid any contact with other penguins where it may pick up a disease it could carry.
"We are just waiting for all the different tests to come through. We do blood tests for different parasites, as well as avian flu which has been a big problem in the past in Antarctica," Walton said.
She said they will have a full picture of the health of the penguin within 24 hours after which it will be taken to a deserted beach and monitored to see if it will return to the ocean.
"Hopefully, it will go back to where it belongs in Antarctica which is about 5000 kilometres from us. If there is a problem and we can't release it will have to make another plan and then it will have to stay in the rehabilitation facility," Walton added.
She says it is not possible at this point to determine if the penguin is male or female as a DNA test would have to be conducted.
(This article has been updated with a correction from SAPREC that the penguin is from the Sub Antarctic Islands and not the Antarctic).
