Retired bricklayer Joao Pereira de Souza, 71, rescued the little fella when he washed ashore in 2011, starving and covered in oil.
For over a week Joao cleaned the Magellanic penguin’s tarred feathers and slowly nursed him back to health, feeding him sardines to help boost his strength.
Joao then took Jingjing back to the sea so that the penguin could migrate back to his natural habitat.
“But he wouldn’t leave. He stayed with me for 11 months and then just after he changed his coat with new feathers, he disappeared,” Joao tells Globo TV.
“Everyone said he wouldn’t return but he has been coming back to visit me for the past four years. He arrives in June and leaves to go home in February.”
South American Magellanic penguins usually breed in the Patagonia coasts of Argentina and Chile – up to 8000km away.
“Professionals who work with animals try to avoid relationships like this occurring so they are able to reintroduce the animal into the wild,” adds biologist Joao Paulo Krajewski.
“But in this isolated case the authorities allowed Jingjing to stay with Joao because of his kindness. I have never seen anything like this before. I think the penguin believes Joao is part of his family and probably a penguin as well.
“When he sees him he wags his tail like a dog and honks with delight.”
Jingjing’s adopted dad says no one else is allowed to touch him.
“He pecks them if they do. He lays on my lap, lets me give him showers, allows me to feed him sardines and to pick him up.
“I love the penguin like it’s my own child and I believe the penguin loves me. I’m flattered Jingjing is happy to exchange his home with thousands of other penguins every year to find his way here to spend one-to-one time with me.
“It’s a very special relationship.”
