A scrappy yellow-eyed penguin has tussled with sharks three times in the past few years and lived to squawk the tale.
Veterinarians at the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital yesterday operated on the feisty hoiho known as Crystal for the third time in three years.
The 1-year-old had taken on a shark, so staff fixed her and sent her back into the wild via Penguin Place on the Otago Peninsula.
A year later, the opponent was the same, but the injuries were more severe.
''This time she had a big wound which took quite a few surgeries to repair.''
On her way out, staff had a ''little yarn'' to the penguin, advising it to ''avoid sharks and stop being so sassy''.
The flightless fighter clearly did not heed the advice, as last week the hospital again received a call about a familiar face getting in underwater scraps in the Catlins.
''It was quite amusing; it is nice to see an old friend. Lucky for her the wound isn't as bad as she has had previously, so maybe she's just getting better at defending herself.
''I'd hate to see what the poor shark looks like ... ''
The positive thing about a penguin returning year on year was it proved some of the animals the hospital had helped survived in the wild, Dr Argilla said.
The facility is filled with animals which meant she had to perform the operation after a double-shift on Monday and only four hours' sleep.
Dunedin Wildlife Hospital Trust chairman Steve Walker said it appeared the penguin remembered the facility.
The upside was Crystal was able to score the ''deluxe suite'' instead.
''She can be naughty and quite bitey when she wants to be fed.''
The operation was to check for any unseen injuries, clean the wound and infection
area thoroughly and to stitch her back up.
The average yellow-eyed penguin operation cost $500 and being primarily a volunteer-run trust it was grateful for any assistance the public could provide, financial or otherwise, he said.
Crystal would likely spend up to a month in rehab.
