Ex-Prem star was accused of kidnapping a penguin and got call from police
Former Premier League star Lutz Pfannenstiel was once sensationally accused of kidnapping a penguin – but he does have previous of "borrowing" the flightless birds.
Enjoying a journeyman career spanning 25 different clubs, Pfannenstiel, now 49, had short spells at Wimbledon and Nottingham Forest on his way to working on every continent on planet Earth, including inviting the legendary Diego Maradona to participate in a charity match in Antarctica.
The ex-goalkeeper opted to hang up his boots in 2011, after a two-year stint in Southern Africa with Namibian outfit Ramblers, later working as Head Director of International Relations and Scouting at Hoffenheim.
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Back in his homeland, the German was quizzed by police over a missing Humboldt penguin, that was stolen from its enclosure at Luisenpark Zoo.
Speaking at the time, Pfannenstiel said: "The police phoned me about a stolen penguin. They had received an anonymous tip-off that I might be involved. But it wasn't me. I urge the thief to return the penguin, as this is no joke. I know it well from the sins of my youth."
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Pfannenstiel then reflected on the time he "borrowed" a local penguin from its colony to the displeasure of his housemates. He added: "In 2003 I took a penguin home from its colony and put it in my bathtub. But I returned it inside two days after my club chairman explained penguins were a protected species.
"Besides, my housemates were not delighted, as it stank like a fish factory. I did not steal it – I just borrowed it."
The penguin missing from Luisenpark was later found dead in a car park with its head cut off. Director Joachim Koltzsch described the event as "tragic". "The incident with our missing penguin could not have had a more tragic outcome," said Koltzsch, speaking in 2017.
"Our employees and visitors had an emotional attachment to the animal. All of us, especially the zookeepers who took care of the animal every day, are shaken by the death and also by the way such little respect was given for a living creature."
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