Free the Sea Life Fifteen!
Join the protest to help fifteen Gentoo Penguins escape the Sea Life basement
Freedom for Animals, with support from Born Free and The Express, is planning a protest outside Sea Life London on Sunday 19 October at 10.30am.
Sea Life London (run by Merlin Entertainments, a business mired in controversy) has been keeping fifteen Gentoo Penguins trapped in the basement of their London Aquarium for years now. A species evolved for life on the Antarctic Peninsula and on numerous sub-Antarctic islands, the ‘Sea Life Fifteen’ have no natural light, fresh air, or deep water to dive in. They are denied the very things they need to thrive and live full, healthy lives.
The protest will be attended by hundreds of concerned wildlife supporters, including Chris Packham, Ecotricity founder Dale Vince and musician and campaigner Feargal Sharkey - and Protect the Wild and our supporters will be there too!
Free the Sea Life Fifteen!
Laura Walton, Co-Director at Freedom for Animals, told Protect the Wild that the first penguin exhibit opened in May 2011, and 10 Gentoo Penguins were introduced from Edinburgh Zoo. Some, like Polly and Ratchet, once knew the outdoors at Edinburgh Zoo, but have now endured 14 years in a basement. Others, like Gilbert and Ziggy, born at Sea Life, have never seen the sky.
Laura told us that
“The fifteen Gentoo penguins held captive underground in a basement prison at Sea Life London never get to look up at the sky or feel the wind on their faces...instead, they’re surrounded by painted walls that mimic the wild home they’ll never see. Captivity is not conservation. How can we call ourselves a compassionate society when we allow such cruelty? It’s time to free the fifteen - and we need your help to make that happen!”
These penguins can never be released into the wild, but Freedom for Animals wants them removed and allowed to live out the remainder of their lives in a sanctuary independently operated by a recognised and respected welfare and conservation organisation. They also want Merlin Entertainments to cease all exhibition of penguins with IMMEDIATE effect.
Protect the Wild agrees wholeheartedly. These incredible birds do not belong in a basement. And they certainly shouldn’t belong to Merlin Entertainments…
It’s BS like this that should make us all angry…
Back in August 2024, the BBC quoted an unnamed Sea Life spokesperson who - using the placatory BS that all activists campaigning against animal exploitation will be very familiar with - tried to explain away the penguins’ imprisonment as if it were actually good for them:
“The gentoo penguin habitat at Sea Life London Aquarium was designed with help and advice from specialist vets.
“It provides an excellent balance of water and land for the penguins, which enables them to express their normal behaviours and there is space for them to ensure they have sufficient privacy.”
This statement reeks of a blatant attempt to deflect concerns that keeping the penguins in such appalling conditions might breach the Animal Welfare Act.
The Act says that owners and keepers have a duty of care to meet an animal’s needs, which includes allowing them to “exhibit normal behaviour patterns”. This is one of five key welfare needs, along with a suitable environment, a suitable diet, proper housing (with or apart from other animals), and protection from pain, suffering, injury, and disease.
However, the enclosure the spokesman claims allows these incredible birds to express their ‘natural behaviours’ is just 115m² in size and at most just 182cm (6ft) to 213cm (7ft) deep.
Contrast that with the fact that Gentoo Penguins are strong swimmers, reaching speeds of up to 35km/h (22mph) and travelling up to 25km (16 miles) searching for food. They can dive to depths of approximately 200 meters (655-665 feet) and can stay underwater for up to seven minutes.
This basement prison isn’t even a shallow puddle compared with the vast ocean these birds are adapted to.
Suggesting otherwise is ignorant. It is the same crass and disingenuous nonsense that so typically diminishes the suffering of cetaceans trapped in tanks, parrots confined to cages, and elephants held in enclosures - all vibrant, intelligent beings trapped in a fraction of the space they would have in the wild with none of the enrichment and interactions they need.
These birds need to be freed NOW!
Join the protest on Sunday 19 October
Come and help Free the Sea Life Fifteen!
Time of Event: 10.30am - 11.30am
Meeting Point: Entrance to Sea Life London Aquarium, Westminster Bridge Road, Southbank, London, SE1 7PB. What3Words: ///best.smart.stiff
If you are thinking about joining the protest, it will be a great help to the organisers if you would register your interest on the Freedom for Animals website at freedomforanimals.org.uk/free-the-fifteen-protest
Thank you.
Header image - photo of mountains of South Georgia with Gentoo Penguin colony in foreground by Eric Woehler, Gentoo Penguins at Sea Life London by Freedom for Animals.
I'll be with you in spirit but at 82 and hundreds of miles away I wish you luck and every success.
Again and again the F****** human race and "WILDLIFE", when will it ever stop, will it ever stop, the "HUMAN RACE" the "WORST SPECIES ON THE PLANET", why can't we leave "NATURE'S ANIMALS" alone, we, the BRITISH, "ANIMAL LOVERS" "BOLLOX" tell that to "BLOODSPORT" "COWARDLY" "SCUM", all the same, "GOOD LUCK" with the "PROTEST", 86 year old and disabled.