Things got a little wild on the floor of the Kentucky Senate this week, but it wasn't a late-breaking political scandal that shocked lawmakers. It was a pooping penguin.
Paula, a penguin from the Newport Aquarium near Cincinnati, Ohio, was visting the Kentucky Legislature Tuesday as part of a resolution honoring the aquarium for its work with penguins and other marine animals, reported the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Newport Aquarium's exhibit, "Penguin Palooza," is the "second most diverse collection of cold-weather penguins in the country," according to the zoo's website. They explain that even the most populous species, the Macaroni penguin, has seen "widespread decline" since the 1970s and is currently listed as vulnerable by IUCN.
As State Senator Katie Stine (R) described the resolution, thanking Newport Aquarium "for its contributions to the ecology of our world and the economy of Kentucky," Paula decided the Senate chamber was as good of a place as any to do her business.
As Stine continued to read Resolution 92 unfazed, Senate President David Williams asked her, "Are you talking about the penguin that just defecated on the floor?" Amid boisterous laughter from the rest of the Senate, Stine replied, "Actually, senator, I believe that's your desk."
Stine garnered more laughs when she later said, "May I ask for floor privileges?" Williams continued the banter, replying, "Well, the penguin's already taken care of the floor."
For more penguin fun, be sure to check out images of the San Francisco Zoo's newest gaggle of Magellanic penguins that arrived in November. In more serious penguin news, nearly 50 little penguins were rescued and re-released in December after an October oil spill in northern New Zealand.
Below, watch the video of Paula the penguin in the Kentucky Senate chamber.
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