LONDON — A flap of outrage is brewing over the fate of 15 residents of a cramped central London building, who critics say live out their lives indoors with no daylight, fresh air or adequately deep water.
The gentoo penguins are one of the star attractions at the Sea Life London Aquarium, in one of the city’s most popular tourist hot spots, across the river from the British Parliament and nestled between a “Shrek”-themed experience and the popular London Eye landmark.
British lawmakers this week joined campaigners in voicing mounting concerns for their 15 feathered neighbors, calling for government intervention over what they say is “un-British” treatment.
The company that owns the aquarium says its penguin enclosure meets the standards of modern zoo practice set by the government.
Visitors file past sharks, turtles and tropical fish in big tanks to reach the penguins, housed in a noticeably colder exhibit, built of rocks and artificial snow cliffs that hover over a pool of water.
There, the 10 females and five males appear to spend their time mostly bobbing, jumping and swooshing through the water while visitors look on, children squealing with excitement while adults whip out their phones to take pictures.
Most people filing by Thursday, largely families with children, told NBC News they were not aware of the brewing controversy.
Shivani Gupta, visiting from Canada, said the conditions in the enclosure “did not seem right,” although she added she would have still visited the aquarium as she has never seen penguins before.
Chelsea Gibbons, 25, on vacation from Massachusetts, said she was not aware of the concerns raised by the campaigners, but noted there was no access to the outdoors for the penguins and the pool area appeared “a bit small,” although there is an additional area for the penguins to waddle around. Had she known about the efforts to free the birds ahead of time, Gibbon said, she would not have come. “The aquarium is saying it’s meeting 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 the penguins should be relocated to a more suitable facility better aligned with their behavioral, ecological and physiological needs,” according to British media reports.
David Taylor, a member of Parliament with the ruling Labour Party, has been spearheading the campaign, posting on X that “abusing animals for money is un-British.”
The largest populations of gentoo penguins are found in the Falkland Islands and the South Georgia Islands in the South Atlantic, and on 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 routinely dive up to more than 160 feet deep.
“I know that the official guidelines for captive penguins is that they need at least 4 feet of water depth, which I don’t know who thought of that. It clearly wasn’t someone who thought much about penguins,” he said. “They are monstrously efficient, wonderful swimmers. They are one of the fastest penguins, most athletic, and therefore any condition that they are being kept in captivity, which constrains their ability to move themselves, is obviously of concern,” he said.
As far as fresh air and daylight are concerned, Wilson said, some subspecies of gentoo could struggle to survive outside in the U.K. due to a risk of fungal infections.
Freedom for Animals, a U.K. charity that opposes the captivity of animals in “zoos, aquariums, mobile zoos and circuses,” launched a campaign to free the penguins in February 2024, but the movement has picked up steam with a protest held outside the facility last month and the intervention from MPs.
A petition started by the charity has garnered more than 40,000 signatures and asks theme park operator Merlin Entertainments, which owns the aquarium, to guarantee the “safe and permanent retirement of the penguins” to a facility that can provide “a much more suitable environment.”
In a statement to NBC News, Merlin Entertainments said the penguin enclosure is located on the ground floor of the aquarium, not the basement, and was “carefully designed to reflect important elements of the penguins’ natural environment as closely as possible to ensure good health, including climate-controlled temperature and filtered fresh air.”
The company also said the enclosure has technology that creates appropriate seasonal lighting, reflecting changing seasons. The penguin colony is regularly inspected by independent veterinarians, and local and national authorities, it added.
“This is a complex issue,” its statement said. “There’s a lot to consider, and we take every decision seriously, always guided by what’s best for the animals. We’re open. We’re listening. And we’ve always done what’s right for our animals based on expert advice and their individual needs. That’s a commitment we stand by.”