Carnivalists from Mönchengladbach at the Krefeld Zoo
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Crazy penguins meet animal penguins
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The Rheydter Prince Guard fed the penguins in the Krefeld Zoo.
Photo: Lammertz, Thomas (lamb)
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Mönchengladbach/Krefeld The Great Rheydter Prince Guard now has a godchild. It lives in the Krefeld Zoo and was given fish instead of medals as a welcome gift.
April 25th is World Penguin Day. While most people think of the funny seabirds “in tails” on this day, a smaller number perhaps still think of the Krefeld ice hockey club, the people of Mönchengladbach – and here especially the people of Rheydter – think of one thing in particular: the Great Rheydter Prince Guard. The members there are also called penguins because of their black and white uniform.
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The teasing nickname was probably invented in the Mönchengladbach Prince Guard, with which the Rheydter counterpart has a friendly rivalry. In return, the Mönchengladbach guardsmen are referred to as “fire extinguishers” because their uniform is signal red. Since when these nicknames have been around, no one knows for sure. Both sides have heard that this has been the case for decades.
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In Rheydt, people have more than made friends with the name penguins. The Rheer Knöppkes, the youth show dance group of the Great Rheydter Princes’ Guard, chose the animal as their mascot, and the cute bird appears again and again in the orders of the guard.
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After the long, no-nonsense Corona period, the Rheydter Princes’ Guard came up with something special: foolish penguins meet animal penguins. Because this species with feathers and fins no longer exists in the Odenkirchen zoo, we went to the Krefeld zoo. The Humboldt penguins have just got a new enclosure there, which made it possible for the Rheydter and Krefeld penguins to have a tête-à-tête. You got pretty close. As a tailcoat wearer, you have to stick together. Both sides had fun during this visit – the animal penguins, because there was plenty of fish, and the human penguins, because they were not shy. “The animals were very trusting. And none of us was bitten while feeding,” says Guido Gauls, commander of the Rheydter Prince Guard.
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The guard, who are celebrating a foolish anniversary in the coming session (eight times eleven years), did not come to Krefeld without a guest gift. She took on a symbolic sponsorship for an animal and donated to a world penguin project. And the Rheydters can’t resist such a small tip against the Gladbach Prince Guard, they can do something that the others can’t: “There aren’t any sponsorships for fire extinguishers yet.”
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