Due to a recent spate of burglary and vandalism incidents at the East London Aquarium, the historic marine museum is currently closed to the public.
The marine wildlife recovery and educational facility on the Esplanade has consistently been a target of criminals.
In an interview with the Express, East London Aquarium manager Siani Tinley said they have encountered burglaries before where burglars broke through their front glass doors or the back windows and targeted things like cash from their tills and their public TV screen, which they used to play presentations for the public for environmental education. However, she described the two recent break-ins (29th May 2025 and 12th June 2025), where the vandals broke in and ripped out copper piping used for water and electricity lines, affecting holding tanks, freezers, an air compressor and water supply to animals, as a huge setback.
“In these particular burglaries, they targeted our cash till but our funds were locked away safely so that was fine, but they got away with a lot of copper piping from our plumbing systems. Because ours is such an old aquarium, we are about 94 years old, our electrics are within copper conduit so they targeted our electrics as well.” Tinley said they had emergency repairs done so that they can have running water and electricity for their fish pumps and fish filters with hopes of reopening soon, but vandals struck again.
“We had another burglary again on the 12th June. This time they entered through a similar point on the sea side of the building and they managed to steal more of our equipment and some more of our electrics. We were planning to open over the long weekend but based on this we are forced to close again before we are able to open,” she said.
At the time of the interview, Tinley was unable to confirm the exact date of reopening, but she told the Express that they are working diligently, doing their absolute best to resume operations before the school holidays start. She said any sponsorships, donations or services are welcome.
