Is the San Diego Zoo Penguins break in story real or fake? Viral dressed up as surfers story claim debunked

A viral Facebook post claimed two men allegedly broke into the San Diego Zoo to dress up penguins in wetsuits, sunglasses and tiny board shorts. They supposedly managed to turn several penguins into surfers before leaving the zoo.

The entire alleged incident was reportedly caught on security cameras. The San Diego Zoo officials claimed that the penguins were fine. Police officers are seemingly looking into the footage, trying to identify the two men.

The viral post also shared that one zookeeper laughed about the matter and said, "Surf's up," seemingly referring to the animated film.

The viral story about the San Diego Zoo penguins breaking in is fake, as there are no official reports of it. The zoo has not announced anything related to a break-in. The image used in the post was generated by AI. The Facebook page, Curious Zone, often uploads fake news for entertainment purposes.

The post garnered over 87,000 reactions. While some noticed that the image was AI-generated, the majority of netizens believed it to be real.

"Not saying it was me, but this is some shenanigans I would get up to. I just thought about all the planning that would go into this to have the perfect measurements for penguin sized costumes and that made this even funnier," one netizen wrote.

"This is the most wholesome crime I've heard," one Facebook user noted.

"I mean no animals were harmed in dont see the issue i understand trespassing and it's not exactly legal to handle these animals without some education and licenses but no harm no foul lol," another user added.

The animated film about penguins, Surf's Up, would get a television adaptation

The animated mockumentary was released in 2007 and featured the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Zooey Deschanel, Jeff Bridges, Jon Heder, Diedrich Bader and Mario Cantone, among others.

Surf's Up was written by Chris Jenkins, Ash Brannon, Chris Buck, Don Rhymer and Christian Darren, and was directed by Buck and Brannon. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2007 Academy Awards. The animated sequel Surf's Up 2: WaveMania was released in 2017.

Deadline reported on September 25, 2025, that Atomic Cartoons is going to make a live-action adaptation based on the popular film. The television series would have eleven-minute-long episodes and would be targeted towards children aged six to nine.

A ‘SURF’S UP’ sequel TV series is in the works.

(Source: Deadline) pic.twitter.com/mtFZqivVSE

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 25, 2025

Lienne Sawatsky, Dan Williams and John Hazlett would write and be the showrunners. It is worth noting that the trio previously created cartoons, such as The Guava Juice Show and Wishfart.

Aaron Behl, the VP of Originals at Atomic Cartoons, told the news outlet that Sawatsky, Williams, and Hazlett are passionate about penguins and surfing, so it was no surprise that they were chosen to write the project.

Details, such as the cast and release date of the Surf's Up series, have not been announced yet.

Stay tuned for more news regarding viral posts, such as the San Diego Zoo penguins break-in story.