Heartwarming: Penguin Swims 5,000 Miles Every Year to See His Rescuer

Today’s most heartwarming story tells about a touching relationship between a penguin and a 71-year-old man.

Joao Pereira de Souza, a retired bricklayer and part time fisherman found a dying penguin starving and covered in gasoline on beach in Brazil in 2011. He took him home and nursed him back to health. Joao named the South American Magellanic penguin Dindim, released him back into wild, and never expected to see him again.

Nevertheless, Dindim returned to the island where he recognized Joao and went home with him just a few months later.

Now, Dindim spends eight months of the year with Joao and the rest of his time breeding off the coast of Argentina and Chile. The flightless bird is believed to swim around 5,000 miles every time he returns to his rescuer.

“I love the penguin like it's my own child and I believe the penguin loves me.” Mr. Pereira de Souza said, “Everyone said he wouldn't return but he has been coming back to visit me for the past four years.”