Seeing animals on holiday is a real highlight for many of us but in many places across the world wild animals are offered as photo props to travellers to pose with. To some this may seem like a harmless way for locals to make money from tourists but the impacts on the animals can be more than meets the eye. Our friends at The Born Free Foundation tell us why we shouldn’t support these kinds of operations.
Every summer, Zoo Check hears from tourists approached by photographers offering to take their photograph with animals ranging from lion cubs and monkeys, to bears and even alligators. A popular souvenir in many resorts around the world, the use of wild animals for tourists’ photos can have a serious impact on the welfare of the animals involved. Repeated handling by humans is very stressful to wild animals, and in most cases the animal will have been removed from its mother at a very early age.
Their future welfare is often uncertain, and when they are no longer charismatic or easy to handle, these animals often end up in slum zoos, circuses or even being killed. Potentially dangerous animals such as lion cubs are routinely drugged, and have claws and teeth removed to protect human participants. Animals can even have their mouths wired shut and be chained so tightly they can barely move. Despite these precautions, there are considerable risks to people. In China in 2007 a young girl was tragically killed by a tiger as she was being photographed with it. It is thought the animal was startled by the camera’s flash. Participants are also at risk of contracting many serious diseases when handling wild animals. Read more on
Born Free’s site here.
The use of wild animals for tourist photos is currently popular in the following destinations: Thailand, Mexico, Spain, Bulgaria, Morocco, Russia, Romania, India and Sri Lanka. Download a fact sheet on the use of wild animals as photographic props from
Born Free's site here.
This summer, the Born Free Foundation aims to raise greater awareness about the plight of wild animals used as photographic props, and asks that both the public and the tour operator remains vigilant, providing Born Free with detailed reports on these activities, their location and which animals are involved. With the help of Responsibletravel.com, and other tour operators, the Born Free Foundation hopes to discourage hotel resorts and excursions from allowing the use of animals as photographic props, and together eradicate this form of animal exploitation.
Have you seen animals in poor conditions in a zoo, or abused in a circus or dolphinaria? Did you experience bad practice during a wildlife safari or viewing excursion? Are you concerned about a dancing bear you’ve seen, or animals in a side show or used as a photographic prop? Born Free wants to hear from YOU. The more information we receive the more animals we can try to help.
If you’d like to report animals suffering and neglect please go directly to the
complaints form here.
Or call the
travellers’ animal alert hotline on 0845 003 5960 night or day or alternatively contact Zoocheck at
zoocheck@bornfree.org.uk to report your concerns about animal suffering and neglect. Provide as much detail as possible and your report could make a real difference to an animal in need.
The Born Free Foundation is a dynamic international wildlife charity, devoted to compassionate conservation and animal welfare. Born Free takes action worldwide to protect threatened species and stop individual animal suffering and neglect. Born Free believes wildlife belongs in the wild and works to phase out zoos. We rescue animals from lives of misery in tiny cages and give them lifetime care.
For more details and information please go to
http://www.bornfree.org.uk For more information about animal welfare check out our
animal welfare section here.
