Free Republic

PHILLIP Island's iconic fairy penguins have been renamed "little penguins" in Queensland to avoid offending the gay community. In an act of political correctness gone overboard, Sea World theme park operators on the Gold Coast changed the name of their star attraction to avoid being "offensive". Rebecca Smith, spokeswoman for Sea World, confirmed: "We didn't want to upset the gay community. "We didn't have any complaints about the name of the penguins, but someone thought it could be seen as offensive so we decided to change it to little penguin instead. "The name is more politically correct. We're not treating...

ONE of Victoria's cutest tourist attractions is up for adoption: the little penguin population of Phillip Island. For $75, adoptive parents can have a personalised thank you card from their new addition and automatic membership of the Penguin Foundation. Foundation chairman John Laurie said every cent raised by the adoption program and other donations would be used to help little penguins (formerly known as fairy penguins). "Although our penguins are healthy and in good numbers, the local penguin population is incredibly fragile and there is still more to be learnt about their behaviour and life cycles," Mr Laurie said. "Australia's...

Dogs kill fairy penguins 02aug05 TOURISTS looked on in horror as two marauding dogs mauled and killed penguins at a leading Tasmanian penguin-viewing site. Interstate visitors left Bicheno in shock after at least 15 penguins were killed in their sheltered rookery. Nick Wardlaw, of Bicheno Penguin Tours, said about 20 people saw the Sunday evening attack, which left them "absolutely horrified". "[The dogs] just grabbed one penguin, broke its neck then dropped it and moved on to the next one," he said. "The tourists were absolutely horrified to think that such a thing could happen." Paul Male, who also saw...