PENGUIN experts have met at Marwell Zoo in an attempt to discover the cause of the deadly disease that wiped out all 26 birds this summer.

Representatives attended from Bristol Zoo and Flamingo Park on the Isle of Wight, and the experts also included numerous vets and pathologists

They decided that avian malaria was probably the main cause of the birds' deaths and that wild birds had carried the disease.

One by one the birds fell ill from May to the end of September this year, taking approximately ten days to die.

Keepers were both baffled and saddened by their demise.

The zoo, near Winchester, is not the first in Britain to have its penguin population affected by this deadly disease, with both Bristol and Edinburgh zoos suffering casualties.

However, Gordon Campbell, an assistant curator with responsibility for birds, said the day's conference had left them with a positive feeling.

"Everybody is very sad about what has happened, and the idea behind the conference was to get to the root of the problem and move forward," he said.

Mr Campbell added: "We have also been talking to an American zoo's vet as they have suffered from the same problem for quite a while.

"We are hoping that DNA research they are undertaking will be able to help us."

The zoo hopes to re-stock the state-of-the-art penguin enclosure over the winter, with ten new penguins in place by February next year.

Mr Campbell said: "The new penguins will be tame so they can be given regular health checks without stressing them.

"We will also be treating them with anti-malarial drugs."

The empty £420,000 Penguin World enclosure is still being cleaned every day by keepers in anticipation of these new occupants.

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