For years, visitors to London’s South Bank have flocked to the Sea Life London Aquarium to admire its dazzling array of marine life. Yet, behind the glass walls of its basement-level penguin enclosure, animal rights campaigners allege a darker reality. According to protest organizers and environmental advocates, fifteen gentoo penguins have been kept underground without natural sunlight or fresh air for more than a decade — conditions they describe as “inhumane” and “profit-driven.”
On Sunday, a demonstration titled Free The Fifteen drew hundreds to Westminster, calling for the immediate relocation of the birds to a more suitable environment. The rally, backed by several high-profile figures, reignited a national debate about animal captivity, corporate responsibility, and the ethics of wildlife entertainment.
The Allegations: Penguins ‘Trapped in a Basement’ for Profit
The Free The Fifteen campaign, launched by Freedom For Animals in early 2024, claims that the Sea Life London Aquarium — operated by Merlin Entertainments — has kept fifteen gentoo penguins confined in the basement of a former council building since 2011. The aquarium introduced its penguin exhibit that year with ten birds brought from Edinburgh Zoo, promising visitors a “state-of-the-art” experience. However, campaigners argue that the enclosure, while climate-controlled and equipped with artificial lighting, fails to meet even basic welfare standards for such intelligent, social, and migratory animals.
Freedom For Animals asserts that the penguins live in a dark, artificially lit basement devoid of sunlight and fresh air, and with a pool barely six to seven feet deep. “These are birds designed to swim vast distances in freezing open waters,” the group said in a statement. “Keeping them underground in a small tank is the moral equivalent of locking an eagle in a cupboard.”
The protest, which saw between 250 and 300 demonstrators gather outside the aquarium on Sunday morning, received support from the Born Free Foundation and The Express newspaper. Placards reading “Free the Fifteen” and “Penguins Are Not Props” filled the air as speakers condemned the captivity of the animals.
Among the most vocal critics was Feargal Sharkey, the former lead singer of The Undertones turned environmental campaigner. Sharkey challenged Merlin Entertainments’ new chief executive, Fiona Eastwood, to experience the conditions herself. “In fact, if she’s prepared to actually spend a month down there with those penguins, I will donate £1,000 of my money to a charity of her choosing,” he declared to applause. “It’s idiotic. It’s nonsense, and it’s got to stop.”
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Sharkey’s remarks echoed a broader criticism of Merlin’s business practices. The company, jointly owned by investment giants Blackstone Group, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Lego’s investment arm Kirkbi, operates a long list of major UK attractions, including Alton Towers, Legoland Windsor, Madame Tussauds, Thorpe Park, and Chessington World of Adventures. Critics argue that its corporate priorities emphasize shareholder profits over animal welfare.
At #FreeThe15 penguin protest with @ChrisGPackham, @MeganMcCubbin, @DaleVince, @Feargal_Sharkey, Freedom for Animals and others.
— Raza Hussain (@Raza_2013_) October 19, 2025
The 15 gentoo penguins being held “captive” at the London Sea Life Aquarium deserve freedom – RETWEET if you agree!
Full coverage coming shortly! pic.twitter.com/aKUe4Ue9n8
Sea Life London Aquarium, for its part, defended the penguin enclosure, insisting that the habitat had been designed “with help and advice from specialist vets.” In a statement, the aquarium said the exhibit “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.” The company also highlighted its commitment to marine conservation through its “Breed, Rescue, Protect” programme, which focuses on endangered species worldwide.
However, activists remain unconvinced. They note that gentoo penguins are not endangered, and thus the conservation argument does not apply. For them, the issue is not about scientific preservation, but moral obligation — and whether any company has the right to imprison healthy, social animals purely for entertainment.
Public Outcry and Prominent Voices Join the Movement
Among those lending their support to the campaign were several of Britain’s most recognizable conservationists and environmental advocates. Chris Packham CBE, the naturalist and television presenter best known for his work on the BBC’s Springwatch series, called the penguin display “a blight on the reputation of London’s attractions.” His speech at the protest struck a chord with attendees and drew widespread attention online.
“I could get some specialist architects to build you and me a house in an asbestos factory — we wouldn’t want to live in it, would we? It’s bullshit,” Packham said, rejecting the aquarium’s claims of providing a suitable habitat. “Do we really want that reputation stained by a greedy company that’s keeping some birds in a basement for profit and with no conservation or educational value?”
Packham argued that modern zoological ethics demand far higher standards than those the aquarium currently meets. “We’ve learned sufficiently enough about their behavioural, physiological, and ecological needs to know that if you’re going to keep these animals in captivity at all, you need a custom-built facility — and it’s certainly not one that’s in the bunker of a building underground, where they never see sunlight and they never get fresh air,” he continued. “It’s not acceptable. They’ve got to move them.”
Packham also proposed a practical alternative: relocating the penguins to either the London Zoo or Edinburgh Zoo, both of which maintain outdoor enclosures and have experience caring for the species. “It would be a win-win-win,” he explained. “A win for the penguins, a win for the zoos who could afford to update their facilities further, and a win for Merlin because they could clear their conscience, which is otherwise blighted by this hideous condition of these birds.”
Megan McCubbin, Packham’s stepdaughter and fellow wildlife presenter, echoed his sentiments. Having visited the penguin exhibit once, she described it as “a horrible, dingy, dark basement.” “When you walk through — and I’ve only been once and I will never go again — you can’t help but feel heartbroken about them,” she said. “You can’t put human emotions on animals because you don’t understand what they’re thinking or feeling, but sometimes when you look into an animal’s eyes, you just know.”
Another high-profile attendee was Dale Vince, founder of green energy firm Ecotricity and a longtime environmental campaigner. He dismissed the aquarium’s conservation claims outright. “Expert conservationists today agree that there is no conservational value in zoos,” Vince said. “And there’s no conservation value in breeding penguins in this basement here.”
Freedom For Animals, the charity leading the campaign, has accused Merlin Entertainments of “greenwashing” — promoting token conservation initiatives to deflect from the ethical issues raised by keeping animals in captivity for display. The group’s petition demanding the penguins’ relocation has so far garnered more than 13,000 signatures. Their central argument is simple: since gentoo penguins are not endangered, there is no justification for keeping them confined in an artificial environment beneath ground level.
Corporate Response, Ethical Debate, and the Future of Animal Attractions
The controversy over the Sea Life London Aquarium’s penguins has reignited a wider conversation about the role of captivity in modern conservation. Once considered essential for education and species preservation, zoos and aquariums have increasingly come under fire from scientists and activists who argue that most captive breeding programmes do little to aid wild populations. Instead, they say, these institutions often serve as entertainment businesses operating under a veneer of conservation.
Merlin Entertainments’ “Breed, Rescue, Protect” initiative has been cited as evidence of the company’s conservation efforts. Yet critics like Packham and Vince argue that the programme focuses on public relations rather than tangible ecological outcomes. “There’s no genuine conservation taking place when you’re breeding healthy animals with no intent to release them or protect their natural habitat,” Packham said in an interview following the protest.
The company’s defense — that the penguins are healthy, monitored by vets, and capable of exhibiting normal behaviour — reflects a common justification used across the captivity industry. Yet animal welfare experts increasingly emphasize that physical health does not equate to psychological well-being. Penguins are highly social, migratory birds that in the wild can swim up to 100 kilometres a day and live in colonies exposed to natural light cycles. Artificial lighting and air filtration systems cannot replicate the complex sensory environment of their native Antarctic ecosystems.
Critics also point to the aquarium’s basement location as symbolic of outdated attitudes toward animal display. “In 2025, there is no ethical or scientific justification for keeping wild animals underground, out of sight, and out of sunlight,” said Freedom For Animals’ director. “These birds belong in an environment that respects their biology — not one that reduces them to photo opportunities.”
Merlin Entertainments’ public relations team has thus far stood by its facilities, stating that the company operates under rigorous welfare standards and international guidelines. However, the ongoing backlash could pose a reputational challenge. Public sentiment has shifted dramatically in recent years, with many younger audiences rejecting traditional zoos and aquariums in favor of virtual or sanctuary-based alternatives.
The London protest reflects this generational change. Unlike earlier animal rights movements that often targeted zoos for species cruelty, Free The Fifteen centers its messaging on emotional empathy, ethical business, and modern scientific understanding. Its organizers see the campaign as part of a larger push to reimagine how humans interact with wildlife in a post-pandemic world.
Meanwhile, the aquarium’s operations remain unchanged. Sea Life facilities across the UK house more than 30,000 sea creatures in 11 locations. For now, the fifteen gentoo penguins at the heart of the controversy continue their lives beneath one of London’s busiest tourist districts — unseen by the sun and sealed off from the outside air.
As the Free The Fifteen petition grows and celebrity advocates continue to amplify the issue, pressure is mounting on Merlin Entertainments to respond not with statements, but with action. For campaigners, the solution is straightforward: relocate the penguins to open-air, naturalistic enclosures where they can thrive. For the corporation, however, the implications extend beyond a single exhibit. What began as a protest for fifteen penguins has evolved into a national referendum on whether the future of British wildlife tourism should rest in captivity — or compassion.