Penguin living conditions at London aquarium stir icy response from protesters
LONDON — A wave of outrage is brewing over the plight of 15 residents of a cramped central London apartment building, who critics say live their lives indoors, without daylight, fresh air and deep enough water.
Gentoo penguins are one of the star attractions at Sea Life London Aquarium, in one of the city’s most popular tourist spots, across the river from the British Parliament and nestled between a “Shrek”-themed experience and the famous London Eye landmark.
British lawmakers this week joined campaigners to voice growing concerns about their 15 feathered neighbors, calling for government intervention over what they see as “un-British” treatment.
The company that owns the aquarium says its penguin enclosure meets the standards of modern zoological practices set by the government.
Visitors file past sharks, turtles and tropical fish in large tanks to reach the penguins, housed in a noticeably colder exhibit constructed of rocks and artificial snow cliffs that hover above a pool of water.
There, the 10 females and five males appear to spend their time mostly swinging, jumping and lunging through the water as visitors look on, children screaming with excitement while adults whip out their phones to take photos.
Most of the people who filed Thursday, largely families with children, told NBC News they were unaware of the brewing controversy.
Shivani Gupta, from Canada, said conditions in the enclosure “didn’t seem good”, although she added that she would still have visited the aquarium because she had never seen penguins before.
Chelsea Gibbons, 25, vacationing in Massachusetts, said she was unaware of the concerns raised by activists but noted that there was no outdoor access for the penguins and that the pool seemed “a little small,” although there was extra space for the penguins to waddle around. If she had known about the efforts to release the birds in advance, Gibbon said, she would not have come. “The aquarium says it meets the standards, but we can always improve those standards,” she added.
Dozens of British lawmakers have signed an open letter to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds asking her to “consider whether penguins should be transferred to more suitable facilities that are better suited to their behavioral, ecological and physiological needs,” according to British media.
David Taylor, an MP from the ruling Labor Party, led the campaign, posting on X that “mistreating animals for money is not British”.
The largest populations of gentoo penguins are found in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Islands in the South Atlantic, as well as the Antarctic Peninsula, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Rory Wilson, a professor of aquatic biology at Swansea University in the United Kingdom, told NBC News that in the wild, gentoo penguins regularly dive to depths of more than 160 feet.
“I know the official guidelines for penguins in captivity are that they need at least 4 feet of water depth, and I don’t know who thought of that. It clearly wasn’t someone who thought much about penguins,” he said. “They are monstrously efficient and wonderful swimmers. They are one of the fastest, most athletic penguins, and therefore any condition in which they are kept in captivity, which limits their ability to move, is obviously of concern,” he said.
When it comes to fresh air and daylight, Wilson said, some subspecies of gentoos might struggle to survive outside the UK due to the risk of fungal infections.
Freedom for Animals, a British charity that opposes animal captivity in “zoos, aquariums, mobile zoos and circuses”, launched a campaign to release the penguins in February 2024, but the movement gained momentum with a protest outside the facility last month and the intervention of MPs.
A petition launched by the charity has collected more than 40,000 signatures and calls on theme park operator Merlin Entertainments, which owns the aquarium, to ensure “the safe and permanent retirement of the penguins” in a facility that can provide “a much more suitable environment”.
In a statement to NBC News, Merlin Entertainments said the penguins’ enclosure is located on the ground floor of the aquarium, not the basement, and was “carefully designed to reflect as closely as possible the important elements of the penguins’ natural environment to ensure good health, including controlled temperature and fresh filtered air.”
The company also said the speaker features technology that creates seasonally appropriate lighting, reflecting the changing seasons. The penguin colony is regularly inspected by independent veterinarians and local and national authorities, the statement added.
“This is a complex issue,” the statement said. “There are many things to consider, and we take every decision seriously, always guided by what is best for the animals. We are open. We listen. And we have always done what is right for our animals, based on expert advice and their individual needs. It’s a commitment we keep.”
