Gay penguins cause chaos at Denmark Zoo by adopting neglected chick from parents

When the world seems more volatile than ever, we can always trust the animal kingdom to pull on our collective heartstrings.

In the feel good story of the week, a gay king penguin couple from Denmark have rescued a neglected chick that had been cast aside by its birth parents.

This remarkable incident occurred at Odense Zoo, with staff telling Danish broadcaster DR how couple “kidnapped” the chick while its parents ignored it, neglecting their parental roles.

Animal keeper Sandie Hedegård Munck said:

I think the female has been out to get her bath, and then it has been the male's turn to care for the chick

He may have left that, and that couple has thought, it's a pity, we'll get it

This behaviour may not seem like a big deal, but penguin expert Dyan de Napoli told Newsweek:

In the wild, the natural behaviour is that up until a certain age, one of the parents will always be with the chick

While the mother was seen looking for her chick, the father did not appear to notice.

According to NBC News, staff eventually returned the chick to its parents after they went looking for it, which only seemed fair. But this didn’t happen without a fight, as the chick’s adoptive parents were unhappy at having their new offspring taken from them.

H/T: IFL Science

More: People are editing penguins into Trump photos and it's amazing