Cruel fate of the penguins trapped in London basement who NEVER see sunlight or fresh air: It’s a scandal that will enrage animal lovers, says LIZ JONES. This is the heartless story of company raking it in from them… and how YOU can help end their misery

I shuffle down the dark, underground corridor behind families, strollers, screaming toddlers, everyone eating fast food and taking selfies. We circled past sharks, seahorses and a really big school of fish in a very small tank. We passed many posters about protecting marine life, corals and rainforests! A virtual Ben Fogle appears on the screen. Having already paid £152 for a family of four and a booklet (under twos are free), there are boxes asking us to donate coins for safekeeping.

I’m in the bowels of Sea Life London Aquarium, at County Hall on the capital’s South Bank. It is a super-selected, sanitized version of marine wildlife. I snorkel in Thailand and Africa; Nothing out there can resist a curious, pajama-clad clownfish peering curiously into your soul before gently nibbling on you with its rubbery lips. This Sea Life experience is like exploring a Disney cartoon.

Then I turn the last corner and encounter something very real. It’s a scene you would have thought had gone out of fashion 25 years ago, when the last elephants were evacuated from London Zoo.

I’m in front of a brightly lit glass box with what looks like styrofoam snow around the edges, a sad rubber ring with hose pipes hanging from the ceiling, ridiculously amateurishly painted with a blue sky and a few clouds. There is a small water pool.

There are 15 penguins around him, each about the size of a corgi. Beady eyes, proud breasts, dressed like waiters. Some lie flat on their bellies, their paddle-shaped wings parked. One of them is swimming but is afraid that a small child will hit the window. I see no hidden hole through which they can escape the relentless human gaze (even the captive tarantula I passed earlier chose to retreat to its bedroom), so these seabirds have nothing to do until it’s time to next feed on dead fish. No fresh air, no fun, no freedom.

I was shocked. Central London in 2026!

‘Don’t you think penguins look depressed, shouldn’t they be free in the wild?’ When I say. Parents gathered with their constantly chewing babies look at me as if I were speaking Ancient Greek.

Penguins are the fastest swimming birds in the world

This thought never occurred to them, so I wonder what their children will take away from this experience: are animals here to entertain us? Didn’t they see March of the Penguins and did you cry? Why don’t they visit the Paddington Bear Experience next door instead? In fact, I find Sea Life’s virtual polar bear and orca experience (convincing replicas falling from icy waves) much more exciting than a prone, nearly lifeless penguin forced to spend its days in a jam jar, kids gawking and giggling but learning zero about empathy.

The penguins here are Gentoo: they are not endangered, so there is no excuse for them being kept in captivity. The 15 chained individuals have been here since 2011 and are not allowed to rest (even the pit ponies had summer holidays). Most came from Edinburgh Zoo; Two of them are old, some were born here. They all wear tags that remind me of chicks.

Dr. has a PhD in earth sciences and works for PETA, which has long campaigned for an end to the recreational exploitation of animals. Carys Bennett told me that life for these sensitive penguins would be very different in the wild. Penguins have adapted to extreme conditions, with icy temperatures and dynamic weather conditions in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. They care for their young and are social, complex animals with a unique biology and behaviors that have evolved to suit their frigid environment. Gentoo penguins swim for kilometers in search of food, diving to a depth of 200 meters 450 times a day. They can stay underwater for up to seven minutes and swim at more than 20 miles per hour, making them the fastest swimming birds in the world.

To reach these speeds, Gentoos, which have spade-shaped wings with tapering tips like the wings on the Boeing 747, use ‘feathering’ by bending the lower part of their wings forward or backward. This changes the angle relative to the water, reducing the amount of resistance and allowing them to approach more gracefully and quickly, like many mini Mark Spitzes.

The penguin exhibit at Sea Life London has no natural daylight or fresh air and the tiny pool is just two meters deep, a long way from the ocean. The temperature of the water, how it is cleaned, the expertise of the ‘keepers’ (a terrible, outdated word) are all things Sea Life refuses to disclose. The complexity of the marine environment – ​​tides, water currents, interactions with other animals – cannot be replicated in a building in London. These incredible seabirds deserve better.

Southern ocean-based ornithologist, birding guide and Antarctic ambassador Rodrigo Tapia is horrified to hear about their plight. ‘Penguins are a family of birds wonderfully adapted to life at sea. They appeared on Earth during the Paleocene period, approximately 60 million years ago. [they narrowly avoided dinosaurs]and they evolved in a direction that made them flightless but also the most accomplished divers in the bird world.

‘They are seabirds whose life cycle revolves around the ocean and they travel great distances to find food. They are carnivores and their prey ranges from fish to squid and krill.

Gentoo penguins’ habitat in Antarctica cannot be replicated in a London building

Chris Packham, zoologist Megan McCubbin and Feargal Sharkey attended a protest last year

‘Gentoos raise two chicks a year and can live up to 20 years of age in the wild. They thrive in vast expanses of the open ocean: keeping them in enclosures is not only cruel, it’s also detrimental to their health because they require constant exercise of the pectoral muscles that move their wings and a diet that is very difficult to breed in captivity.’

Dr Bennett attended a meeting with Sea Life’s parent company, Merlin Entertainments, in December; as well as members of Freedom For Animals and Born Free Foundation, two charities that have staged protests outside the facilities, with celebrity supporters including pop star-turned-environmentalist Feargal Sharkey and green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince.

The meeting discussed ethical issues of penguin exhibits, how the birds’ welfare could be improved by modifying the current exhibit, and the long-term option of relocating the penguins to a sanctuary. The agreed outcomes include suspending penguin breeding (laid eggs are now removed and replaced with artificial hatchlings), using new methods based on Gentoo research in the wild to improve the lives of captive penguins, and considering long-term translocation.

When I spoke to Laura Walton from Freedom For Animals, she heartbreakingly told me: ‘We started our campaign in 2024 by noticing bad reviews on Tripadvisor. There is no sanctuary for the Gentoos at the moment because they are not endangered: we want Merlin to use his money to set one up.’

I approach Sea Life three times to get a timeline for the change and ask if they have actually considered any of the proposed enhancements: their response has been to forward a press release with meaningless phrases like ‘complexity of the matter’ (seems cut and dried to me) and ‘possible next steps’. I also request a percentage of profits donated to conservation, a request again ignored.

I then email Fiona Eastwood, CEO of Merlin Entertainments, with a simple question: What will she do to improve penguins’ lives and when? I’m giving him 24 hours to respond. At a corporate PR the next day, Jack Sellers told me via WhatsApp: ‘We were unable to provide a written response last week because we have an ongoing stakeholder engagement process. […] We should have a coffee!’

Fiona Eastwood, CEO of Merlin Entertainments

When I follow I get this: ‘He’ll chase, naked [sic] with.’ I was then sent the meaningless corporate statement, which I have already laughed at multiple times.

Sea Life has another branch in Birmingham; This branch also keeps gentoo penguins indoors, trapping penguins at Weymouth in Dorset and at sites in Sydney and Mooloolaba, Queensland. Thank God it doesn’t keep orcas or whales in captivity, and Merlin Entertainments, a multimillion-pound company, funded the construction of the Sea Life Trust’s Beluga Whale Sanctuary in Iceland, where it housed two Belugas rescued from a marine park in China.

But they must accept that an ‘underground bunker’, as naturalist Chris Packham describes it, is no place for a wild animal. Dr. As Bennett adds: ‘Penguins lack choice and control; ‘Their needs cannot be met.’

A petition calling for their release reached 106,912 signatures 11 years ago, exceeding the number required for the issue to be debated in Parliament. Has anything changed? No. All we can do now is sign the new petition below and ask parents to vote with their feet. Do not teach your children to gawk and stare, or to be cruel and disrespectful. These beautiful seabirds need sun on their backs, ice under their toes, privacy, dignity, play space, and most importantly, affection.

A spokesperson for Merlin Entertainments said:

‘The welfare of the Gentoo penguins at SEA LIFE London Aquarium remains our top priority. Every decision we make starts with their well-being. As part of our ongoing work, we recently brought together a diverse group of independent experts and organizations for a two-day meeting to openly explore all options for the future of penguins. We collectively agreed that doing nothing was not an option.

‘The discussions were open and constructive and helped us identify areas that needed deeper consideration. This includes improvements to the penguins’ habitat at the aquarium, as well as the possibility of relocating the penguins to an alternative location.

‘This is a complex issue and we want to move forward quickly. But the most important thing is that we are meticulous and thoughtful to achieve the right result for these penguins. We are fully committed to a process guided by science, independent welfare standards and, above all, what is truly in the best interest of the penguins. ‘This work is well underway and our focus will remain firmly on their day-to-day care as this work continues over the coming weeks.’

Sign the petition here: Petitionsite.com or Email Fiona Eastwood: comments@merlinentertainments.biz