Penguin Theft Leads to Three Arrests After Thieves Brag on Facebook

If you’re going to engage in some penguin theft (which the Inquisitr absolutely does not recommend), it’s best not to put evidence of your thievery on Facebook, people.

It seems that nowadays the dumber the crime, the higher the likelihood the perps will turn to the social network to brag about their evil deeds, and penguin theft is a pretty dumb-ass infraction. So it’s probably no surprise that after the criminals broke into Sea World in Australia and stole the baby penguin, a status update (LOL BRB stealing a penguin) was probably not far behind.

UPI confirms that three men aged 18, 20 and 21 were arrested in their jurisdiction for penguinnapping, which is a term we just invented out of necessity. The men were not named, but police say that the three hardened penguin snatchers heartlessly broke into Sea World in Main Beach on Queensland’s Gold Coast after it shut for the day on Saturday.

What happened next is straight out of a Lifetime For Penguins movie. The trio abducted 7-year-old fairy penguin Dirk, who was later recovered abandoned in a shallow estuary. Dirk was chilling after his ordeal when a couple spotted the penguin kid and thought he looked out of place and out of sorts.

Trevor Long, Sea World’s director of marine sciences explains how the internet helped Dirk get back home to the park:

“They heard a scuffle in the water and this penguin came out onto the sand. They thought it was very, very unusual, so they got on to their iPhone and Googled ‘lost penguin.’ That came up with the story and from there they were able to contact us.”

When the penguin theft was discovered by the couple, it appeared to the pair that the poor mite had been chased out of the water- perhaps by a dog and then a shark. The three penguin thieves have been charged with trespassing, stealing and unlawfully keeping a protected animal.