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In 2011, 71-Year-Old Joao Pereira de Souza From Brazil was walking on the beach when he saw a small penguin, thousands of miles away from his normal habitat
He was covered in oil and starving to death when he was discovered, but luckily, his rescuer, wasn't about to let him die.
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Pereira de Souza helped rehabilitate the penguin to make sure he was okay
He named him Dindim and would clean his tarred feathers in the shower and feed him fish to help him get stronger.
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When he went to release him back in the wild, it wasn't going as expected
"He wouldn't leave, he stayed with me for 11 months," Pereira de Souza said. "just after he changed his coat with new feathers he disappeared." It was hard to let him go, but Pereira de Souza knew he did the right thing.
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He wasn't sure if he would ever see him again, but several months later he saw a familiar little figure coming to his door...
"Everyone said he wouldn't return but he has been coming back to visit me for the past four years. He arrives in June and leaves to go home in February and every year he becomes more affectionate as he appears even happier to see me," Pereira de Souza said.
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“I love the penguin like it’s my own child and I believe the penguin loves me,” he said.
Explaining just how adorable their bond is, he said, "No one else is allowed to touch him. He pecks them if they do. He lays on my lap, lets me give him showers, allows me to feed him sardines and to pick him up."
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