Dear John,
 

Recently we contacted you about our new campaign to have the UK’s biggest aquarium brand, Sea Life, stop breeding and exhibiting penguins. The campaign focuses on 15 gentoo penguins currently held captive in Sea Life London Aquarium. These poor animals are kept in a tiny basement enclosure without access to natural light or fresh air.

Launched just a few weeks ago, the petition has reached over a thousand signatures and gained national news coverage. The Daily Express picked up the story, and has been threatened with legal action by Sea Life’s parent organisation, Merlin Entertainments - bizarrely for using the word ‘captive’ to describe the penguins they exhibit.

It's clear we've got Sea Life’s attention -  so now is the time to intensify the campaign, and we need you to get involved!

If you haven’t already, please sign the petition today and add your name to the growing number of dissenting voices demanding freedom for these animals.

Gentoo penguins are the strongest swimmers and the deepest divers of all birds, yet the fifteen individuals held captive in Sea Life London's underground enclosure offers just 6-7 feet of depth in which to dive - a pitiful fraction of the 600ft they can dive to in the wild.

It is clear this tiny enclosed space cannot truly meet their complex physical and social needs.

And the public and experts agree! We had many people sign up to the petition at our recent demonstration outside Sea Life London, and one of the biologists we consulted on this campaign, Dr Heather Lynch of Stonybrook University, New York, wrote recently that “the case for captive breeding as a justification for such prolonged animal confinement is extraordinarily weak, and especially so for a species like the gentoo penguin whose populations are not threatened.”

Added to this, the constant public observation and noise has the capacity to cause serious stress and adverse health effects.

With your help, we must get them out.

Birds should not be forced to live in these conditions. But with your help we can fight for each and every one of them. 

And of course, it isn't just penguins who suffer in aquariums. All animals suffer in captivity and together we must show the truth from in the tanks and in the cages.

Join us today and help fight for the freedom of ALL animals.
Thank you from us, and the penguins.

For the animals,


Isobel McNally
Campaign Officer
Freedom for Animals