Living Coasts Aquarium Calculates Raising One Penguin Costs £200,000
By Philip KnowlingTorquay, UK - They say bringing up a child is an expensive business – but try raising a penguin!
The cost of looking after a child until it is 18 is said to be around £120,000. The animal experts at Living Coasts in Devon calculate that caring for one penguin for an average lifetime of 30 years costs in the region of £200,000 – and Living Coasts has 80 of them.
Keeping penguins is a serious business. The average adult African penguin weighs approximately 5 kilos and eats about 835 grams of best quality, locally-caught sprats every day. This means that a penguin consumes over 9 tonnes of fish in its lifetime.
Staff costs include both zoo keepers and penguin patrollers, who are employed at Living Coasts to make sure visitors and penguins enjoy their close encounters without any problems.
Living Coasts Director Elaine Hayes said: “The total comes to £200,522. That doesn’t include rent or council tax or inflation - and you can’t put a price on the enthusiasm and experience of staff. Penguins don’t leave home when they grow up or get a job, either. It’s just as well we don’t do this for the money!”
One way people can help Living Coasts – a registered charity - meet these costs is by adopting a penguin. Animal adoptions are a great way to join in and support wildlife.
You can adopt a penguin from as little as £35 a year. Adopters receive a certificate, an engraved plaque put up on site, a year's subscription to Zoo News magazine, a photograph and one free ticket to visit Living Coasts.
Living Coasts is home to 80 free-ranging penguins of two species – African and macaroni. For more information go to www.livingcoasts.org.uk or ring (01803) 202470.
To view Living Coasts Aquarium's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to: http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-786-Living_Coasts
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