Bosses at Southend seafront's Sealife Adventure fear they may need to euthanise their animals due to the soaring cost of living and energy bills.

Philip Miller MBE owner of the attraction told ITV News he may have to euthanise animals in his "zooquarium" because the annual cost of electricity has tripled from £240,000 to three quarters of a million pounds.

He told ITV that keeping animals including monkeys, meerkats and tropical fish warm and looked after during the winter would be too costly, if the attraction was closed to save money.

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He told ITV News: "All these animals have to keep warm - or cold - or a combination of both, and it's on 24/7, seven days a week. And they have to be fed, so it's a massive bill to maintain. They'll all have to euthanised or we find other homes but all the other zoos are going to be in the same boat, I'd imagine,"

Mr Miller also runs and owns Adventure Island, told ITV News the energy bill is forecast to be nearly two-and-a-half-million pounds by next year. Two years ago it was £365,000.