London Aquarium owner pledges to phase out gentoo penguins The owner of Sea Life London Aquarium has pledged to phase out gentoo penguins at all of its UK facilities, following long-standing calls from campaigners. Merlin Entertainments said it would merge the 14 penguins in London with the 17 in Birmingham into a single colony, with a new habitat that has natural light and more water space. Caption: Undated Born Free handout photo of the Gentoo penguins’ enclosure at Sea Life London Aquarium. 250 people attended
a demonstration organised by Freedom for Animals with support from Born Free and The Express newspaper, to protest against the captivity of 15 gentoo penguins at the Sea Life London Aquarium attraction in Westminster, London. Issue date: Sunday October 19, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Born Free/PA WireNOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of
the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.Photographer: Born FreeProvider: Born Free/PA WireSource: PA
Sea Life London Aquarium, Merlin Entertainments, gentoo penguins, Westminster protest, Freedom for Animals, Born Free, phase out, Birmingham penguins, animal captivity
Good. Penguins should be free, period.
So they’re “phasing out” them like they’re products? I saw something about merging colonies and I’m confused how that helps the poor penguins. If they have to relocate anyway, just stop keeping them there.
Does “natural light” mean they’ll finally have real ocean water too? Like, I’m not anti-aquarium or whatever but merging London and Birmingham into one colony sounds like more logistics, not less captivity. Also who cares what the Express newspaper says, still seems fishy.
I don’t get how this is called “animal welfare” when it’s still an aquarium and they said 14 in London and 17 in Birmingham, so that’s like 30+ penguins being moved around. People keep acting like sunlight fixes everything. Next they’ll phase out the whole aquarium but then replace it with something else, watch.