FRONTLINE
ANDREA SMITH Holiday Village agent based in the Peak District
I read recently that a tour operator was
being held accountable by World Animal Protection for selling tickets to an attraction that was making a heavily pregnant orca perform tricks, including lifting her body out of the water to balance on land just a few weeks before giving birth. I’ve been heavily pregnant,
twice, and if someone had asked me to balance on my stomach in my third trimester, frankly, my reply would not be fit to print. Past generations could blame lack of education, but with information at our fingertips, can we say the same? To my eternal shame, before
I knew better, I did things I now regret. I walked with lion cubs, believing them to be orphans in a rescue programme that eventually reintroduced them to the wild. I later discovered the cub had been taken from her mother and, as soon as she was ‘not as cute’, was sent to Pretoria Zoo. Perhaps I was just gullible. Or maybe, like many others, I was guilty of not wanting to look too closely in case it deprived me of an experience I selfishly wanted to enjoy.
CHAIN REACTION On safari in one of India’s national parks last year, our guide stopped so we could admire a herd of elephants. A few hundred metres away we passed three more elephants, but he didn’t stop.
24 13 MARCH 2025 AGENT
Elephant, orca and other wildlife
experiences are a big draw – be sure to sell only the ethical ones
Puzzled, I looked back to see their front feet chained together. They were domestic elephants, I was told, used for riding. They spend their non-working hours grazing within sight of their wild cousins, but with their legs chained so they can’t escape. We can’t blame the mahouts; the travel industry must choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. If we book it, tourists will go. There will always be supply where there is demand. Clients who ask for an elephant experience mostly do so because they love elephants. Do you think they would feel the same if they knew a baby elephant had gone through
years of cruel procedures and violence to make it compliant enough to perform bathing experiences? That an elephant would never choose to bathe twice a day, because of harm to its skin and feet? That in the wild, it would eat about 165 different foods, but at many centres they are limited to two or three high-sugar items, such as bananas? Did you know, in Thailand,
where three-quarters of Asia’s elephant experiences take place, anyone can call themselves a sanctuary, a camp or a retirement home for elephants, with no training, regulations or government inspections? These words are used because they are great for business.
INSTINCTIVE VIEW
So, if you can’t trust the name, you must trust your conscience and your instincts. When they tell you it’s safe to touch or feed an animal weighing more than 4,000kg, it’s also safe to say something very unnatural happened to the poor creature to make it so compliant. Educate yourself, then help your client to understand why you don’t want to sell such experiences. There are ethical ones providing beautiful alternatives – so sell your customer one of those instead, and be proud to be part of the solution.
WILDLIFE TOURISM SHOULD CHANGE
I recently watched a ‘Rethinking Wildlife’ webinar by Kiwano Tourism in collaboration with
World Animal Protection. These facts may help you argue the most common misconceptions:
Q Ethical: dolphin parks ceased in the UK 30 years ago. If our animal welfare regulations deem them unacceptable, why consider it on holiday?
Q Breeding programmes: bottlenose dolphins aren’t
endangered – they don’t need a
captive breeding programme. Q Conservation: less than 10% of marine entertainment venues are involved in conservation and, of those, most contribute less than 1% of their profits.
Q Education: watching an animal perform on command is not educational, it’s a circus trick for entertainment. Instead, suggest a whale-watching boat trip, or, for elephants in Thailand, the Following Giants Koh Lanta and Krabi Ethical elephant sanctuaries.
Caption
travelweekly.co.uk
Sharon ColinJenniferHelHelen Clare Sharon ColinJennifer
diary diary
en Clare
Andreandr
PICTURE: Shutterstock/Ninja SS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
