An Entertainment Abuses Article from All-Creatures.org

Lulu's 82 Years in Tanks

From MovingAnimals.org
February 2024

We observed Lulu repeatedly swimming the same lap or sitting motionless in a dark corner of the tank. In the wild, turtles like Lulu swim hundreds or thousands of miles and enjoy basking in the sun. 

82-year-old green sea turtle Lulu was taken from the wild as a tiny hatchling back in the 1940s by a TV advertising agency to 'star' in an advertisement for soap. Spending her eight decades in captivity, Lulu has lived through World War II, Queen Elizabeth II’s entire reign, as well as the first space exploration and the invention of the world wide web.

For the last twenty years, the elderly turtle has been kept in a single tank at Sea Life Brighton, the world’s oldest aquarium. We observed Lulu repeatedly swimming the same lap or sitting motionless in a dark corner of the tank. In the wild, turtles like Lulu swim hundreds or thousands of miles and enjoy basking in the sun.

Now, a campaign has been set up calling for her freedom, and is also asking Sea Life to commit to taking no more turtles into captivity in Lulu’s name.

Public opinion surrounding animals in captivity has shifted in recent years. Sea Life Brighton itself stopped confining dolphins back in 1991, after the cramped conditions repeatedly came under fire.

The Sea Life Trust has more recently focused on supporting the release of captive animals into sanctuaries, including beluga whales Little Grey and Little White who now live together in the first-ever real open-water beluga sanctuary.

Merlin Entertainments, which owns Sea Life Brighton, generated over £1.2 billion in revenue for 2021, and operates other attractions in the UK including Alton Towers and Legoland.

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