Melbourne Aquarium Gets Penguins … And Protests
Featuring five majestic King penguins along with 17 other Gentoo penguins, Australia’s first collection of sub-antarctic penguins have gone on show at a new $28-million exhibition at the Melbourne Aquarium. With the addition of this exhibit the aquarium is expecting 900,000 visitors a year.
The penguins, which were bred in captivity and have never actually lived in the Antarctic, have been in Melbourne for two months and have just finished their quarantine period says the Australia Broadcasting Corporation.
Their enclosure is kept at below zero temperatures and tonnes of snow will be created daily to make the animals feel at home.
However, as the Age mentions, Animals Australia claims the aquarium has abandoned a planning deal with Melbourne City Council – made before the establishment opened in 2000 – that penguins or seals would not be exhibited.
