Looking into the dark eye of the penguin opposite me, my head was filled with questions. Does he mind having people gawk at him all day? Is he bored? Would he rather be out in the wild?
I was visiting the popular attraction ‘Birdland’ in the heart of the Cotswolds which remains a destination for many to see some of our planet’s wonderful birds.
According to their website, there are over 500 birds to visit here, including various species of penguins, owls, parrots and waterfowl.
Head Keeper Alistair Keen shared that the park’s King penguins are their “star attraction.” These penguins are the only ones in England, which would make this attraction in Bourton-on-the-Water a hotspot. During their afternoon feeding time with the Humboldt penguins, he shared with the visitors that King penguins are the second-largest species of penguin on the planet, (after the Emperor). In total there are now 18 species of penguin.
Zoological parks like these yearn to remain relevant in today’s constantly evolving society. Keeping animals in captivity remains a pressing subject and will always ruffle some feathers.
According to the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species, King Penguins are stated as ‘least concern’, compared to their Birdland companions, the Humboldts, which are ‘vulnerable’. So, is there any environmental benefit to keeping the King penguins here in captivity?
“Well realistically, probably not,” Keen told us plainly. “Because I mean [with] King penguins it’s now only us in England that has them, and Edinburgh Zoo has got five males up in Scotland. For us they’re our star attraction, so we like to do the penguin feeding experiences.
“Pre-COVID we were getting people coming from all around the UK just to come and feed [them]”, Keen told us proudly above the squawking of the park’s birds. “I had a lady come from Australia five years ago just to feed the penguins here, even though they’ve got [this species] in Australia, she came here to do it.
“So obviously it’s a big sort of benefit for us but they’re one of these birds that you won’t see in zoos in fifty years. And that will be very very sad, I mean personally, it’s quite nice to say I’m the only person in England doing my job. But King penguins are doing well in the wild, so it’s probably more important to concentrate on Humboldt penguins who are in huge trouble.”
Keen later said, “it’s very much for the penguins, they’re an educational tool. So if we can do talks and get people enthusiastic about them, say we get people sponsoring our penguins- we [then] get people to come and say, ‘we watched your penguins, I’ve adopted a wild Emperor penguin’ and stuff like that.
“And we support a lot of charities in the wild…we’ve been doing ground hornbill projects the last couple of years. We’ve been supporting the World Parrot Trust the last few years as well.”
One ethical concern about captivity is the boredom that some animals experience. On the topic of keeping Birdland’s inhabitants mentally stimulated, he said - “various birds require different sorts of things, so today we’ve had the tree surgeon in so a load of the branches have gone in for the cockatoo, so he can demolish them to keep himself entertained.
“We don’t like to put toys out - like a lot of people give pet parrots toys, but we’ll give them willow to chew. Things like the ground hornbills and some of the magpies, we’ll hide their food around and give them live crickets and locusts to chase around which keeps them going. [With] the penguins…normally we’d get some fish in the water to get them chasing fish around and so it’s a sort of enrichment.”
Keen shared with us the care taken with the park's birds. This includes checking the animals over in the morning as part of the keepers’ routines, cleaning their environments and feeding them, to seasonal measures: shutting away “about 20-30 of the aviaries…because the birds are from warmer climates and don’t like the cold”, Keen told us (such as avocets and flamingos).
Current disease prevention is also taken into account. “At the moment we’ve also got to deal with the fact that avian influenza is across the UK, so every time I go into the kitchen I have to disinfect my feet. Before going into quarantine and all of our bird hospitals we [also] have to disinfect down there now. If we were to get bird flu in the collection that could be a disaster.”
Whilst birds cannot share with us their thoughts on the matter, it will be a comfort to many members of the public that the welfare of these animals is well considered. It will, however, remain a contentious topic as to whether birds (and any animals) really need to be kept in captivity at all.
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