The wayward emperor penguin in New Zealand dubbed Happy Feet should start preparing for a long swim home.
An advisory group convened by the Department of Conservation (DOC) on Wednesday said its preferred option was to release the bird in the Southern Ocean, southeast of New Zealand.
This was the northern edge of the known area where juvenile emperor penguins lived.
"The reason for not returning the penguin directly to Antarctica is that emperor penguins of this age are usually found north of Antarctica on pack ice and in the open ocean," DOC biodiversity spokesman Peter Simpson said.
Happy Feet, whose gender is not known yet, sparked international interest when it arrived unexpectedly at Peka Peka Beach, 60km north of Wellington, more than 3000km from its Antarctic birth place, early last week.
It became ill after eating sand and sticks and was operated on at Wellington Zoo.
Simpson couldn't say how far off the shore the free ride would take the penguin, which is believed to be less than five years old, before it had to swim for itself.
"We're talking about the northern limits, around 47 degrees south, certainly out of sight of land," he said.
Meanwhile, the bird's condition kept improving and new x-rays showed it continued to pass sand naturally, Wellington Zoo spokeswoman Kate Baker told NZPA.
The penguin was kept in isolation at the zoo's hospital, The Nest.
"The room has airconditioning and there's shaved ice and big blocks of ice as well to keep it around 2 degrees Celsius.
"The plan from now on is to let him rest, feed him and x-ray him again on Friday or Saturday to see how much sand has passed," Baker said.
Happy Feet seemed to cope well with the fuss surrounding his arrival in New Zealand.
"It seems to do well, it is anaesthetised during the procedures, but it is still stable which is a good sign," she said.
Plans for Happy Feet's return journey were still in the early stages and more research was required into the logistics and practicalities of the preferred option, including costs.
The penguin would not be released until it was deemed well enough to have a reasonable chance of survival and until then would stay at Wellington Zoo.
Penguins usually eat snow for hydration and to keep cool and it was believed Happy Feet ate the sand because it was confused about where it was.
It is only the second emperor penguin known to have landed in New Zealand. The first one was found at Southland's Oreti Beach in 1967.
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