AAP
A group of three small penguins, two males and one female, have been released back into the wild after making a recovery at Sydney's Taronga Zoo.

Spokeswoman Danielle McGill said the penguins had each spent around two and a half months in the zoo hospital and their return to the water at Watsons Bay on Tuesday was a great sight.

"It went really well, they were all ready and raring to go and just ran down in a little group to the water and jumped in," she said.

The penguins were rescued on different occasions from beaches in Sydney's eastern suburbs after being discovered by Surf Life Savers and local residents.

They had come ashore for their annual moult but were weak, vulnerable and close to death when they arrived.
The female penguin also had a flipper injury.

Penguins in the wild face many threats and clashes with domestic cats and dogs, or marine debris caused by humans, can create huge problems.

A small penguin was treated at Taronga's Wildlife Hospital around eighteen months ago for fishing wire that was wrapped so tightly around its flipper it was almost amputated.

The zoo hopes that the two males, who are of breeding age, will go on to create new colonies.

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