What do you do when things don’t go according to plan? For one zoo in Shropshire, United Kingdom, making do with what they have is the best way to go.

The Exotic Zoo in Telford resorted to using fake penguins for its penguin exhibit when the zoo officers realized that the Humboldt penguin delivery they were waiting for was not coming anytime soon, as reported by BBC last Monday, Oct. 1. In preparation for the penguin delivery last summer, the zoo spent months building a special penguin enclosure.

Since the said enclosure cannot be used for other animals the zoo houses, they were left with no other choice but to use plastic models instead for the exhibit.

Apparently, an avian malaria outbreak struck the penguin delivery. The disease is carried by Culex mosquitos native to the U.K. and is fatal to penguins which have not evolved resistance to it.

“We’ve just timed it really badly,” Exotic Zoo owner Scott Adams said in the report.

Adams stated that malaria caused the lives of many penguins in the U.K., subsequently causing a shortage. Because of what happened, the supposedly surplus penguins that were to be delivered to them, were all of a sudden not available for the taking.

The penguin delivery for the Exotic zoo will resume next year. Kate Matriano/JB

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