I am astounded Brighton Sealife Centre is considering plans to house seals and otters in its marine zoo.

The conditions they are proposing appear to be inappropriate for animals which should be in the wild where they belong.

Furthermore I must disagree with the statement made by Toby Forer, senior general manager of Brighton Sealife Centre (The Argus, April 11), in which he claimed the Sealife Centre orchestrated the rescue of the Brighton Aquaria dolphins and their release into the Caribbean.

This is simply not the case.

At that time, I was part of a coalition called Into The Blue, which consisted of many of the UK's leading conservation and animal welfare organisations, including the Zoo Check Charitable Trust (later the Born Free Foundation).

It was this coalition which took the dolphins, Missie and Silver, to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean where they were successfully released into the wild.

The only participation from Sea Life Centres (Holdings) Ltd, as it was then, was to agree to transfer ownership and welfare of the dolphins to Into The Blue and permit their removal by the project team from Brighton Dolphinarium.

I hope the compassionate public of Brighton and Hove will join me in opposing the proposed plans by the Sea Life Centre to house seals and otters.

-Virginia McKenna OBE, Daniel Turner BSc (Hons) CBiol MIBiol, senior programme officer Zoo Check Programme, Born Free Foundation, Horsham www.bornfree.org