We’re sometimes asked how we decide which wildlife holidays can be considered responsible, so we thought we should let you know our opinions on various wildlife issues.
We ask our travellers and all our members to treat wild animals with respect. Many of our operators adhere to codes of conduct for the areas they visit.
Swimming with wild dolphins & whales
We know that swimming with dolphins is a very popular activity and something that many people would love to do. However, we believe that swimming with captive dolphins is both dangerous and unfair, due to the lack of freedom the animal has to swim away should it wish too. Instead, trips that involve swimming with wild dolphins provide a more responsible alternative. All our tour operators who offer swim with wild dolphin holidays abide by the International Dolphin Watch (IDW) code of conduct which stipulates that there is no contact and no chasing of animals.
Check out our
travellers tips for animal friendly holidays for more information
Take a look at this discussion on
cage diving and swimming with sharks
The most basic level of acceptable animal welfare standards is to meet the five freedoms. These are-
Freedom from hunger and thirst Freedom from discomfort Freedom from pain, injury and disease Freedom to express normal behaviour Freedom from fear and distress
In tourism, the most overlooked of these five freedoms is the freedom to express normal behaviour. Animals should not be pacing or displaying stereotypical stress behaviour; they should not be trained to perform, they should not be stroked, petted or in any way forced to interact with humans (in a way that they wouldn’t in the wild) and animals should not be chained or tied other than for essential veterinary checks.
The only exception to these human interaction criteria, is domesticated animals such as horses where their normal behaviour differs from that of their wild counterpart due to generations of domestication.
We cannot check every captive animal facility in person to make sure that it meets these standards but we do encourage our tour operators to only take travellers to sanctuaries or wildlife rescue centres where animals are brought to recover or aid conservation efforts rather than zoos.
We say no to some captive animal facilities
There are some captive animal facilities that claim to be wildlife sanctuaries or wildlife orphanages which have very poor animal welfare standards. Many of these ‘sanctuaries’ have been visited by animal welfare specialists and have been reported on. We try to stay up to date with these reports and do not promote any trips that visit these sites.
Currently we do not accept trips to the Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka or Tiger Temple in Thailand. Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage was the subject of a report by the animal welfare charity Born Free which led to our decision to exclude any trips that visit Pinnewela from the site. In the case of Tiger Temple, a traveller brought to our attention the poor welfare standards here and after a thorough investigation as well as an additional report by the charity Care for the Wild, we decided to remove all trips that include Tiger Temple in their itinerary.
You can see the Born Free report on Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage here
You can see the Care for the Wild report on the Tiger Temple here
These decisions we have not made lightly as we try not to inflict our western values on other cultures. We also need to bare in mind the social and economic benefits that tourism can bring to developing regions such as these. However, after careful consideration we decided that the benefits did not out way the costs to the animals. Other trips have been removed from our site due to poor animal welfare that have come to light in reviews from our travellers. These include trips to Cango Wildlife Ranch, Oudtshoorn and Two Ocean’s Aquarium, Cape Town (both in South Africa), and any holiday that offers diving with captive sharks or alligators. 
We are constantly trying to improve our knowledge of animal welfare in tourism and are talking to travellers, tour operators and wildlife organisations to make sure that we are up to date with current information. We monitor all the reviews that we receive for any potential animal welfare issues (which sometimes the traveller may not even be aware of). We often question our tour operators about their trips, the conservation value of their wildlife holidays and encourage them to increase the educational aspects of wildlife trips. We have close working relationships with both the Born Free Foundation and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
For more information on animal welfare issues in tourism, see our animal welfare section here
