TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

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TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

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TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

TripAdvisor's new policy, which will come into effect in 2017, means it will no longer allow users to book activities that involve contact with endangered species or captive wild animals. TripAdvisor and its tour subsidiary Viator will not sell tickets for activities including elephant rides or petting / handling lion cubs.

The NSPCA fully supports this decision, having spoken out over a considerable period of time appealing to the caring public not to support activities which involve interaction with wild animals in captive situations.

The TripAdvisor decision came after consultation with conservation, animal welfare, academic, trade, and tourism groups but above all, being in line with increasing public sentiment on the issue of animals and entertainment. The NSPCA has always maintained that there is no educational value in petting lion cubs or having photographs taken whilst holding or beside wild animals. These are exploitive profit-making activities which compromise the welfare of the animals and are pure entertainment.

Emphasising the positive element of this decision, the NSPCA agrees with TripAdvisor that this policy will generate support for responsible and ethical destinations where animals are in their natural environment and can exhibit natural behaviour.

The Lion and Safari Park which opened in July 2016 has backtracked on its undertaking to offer only ethical experiences to tourists with no petting of lion cubs. This was retracted in a statement in August when cub petting was re-introduced.

An accolade is extended to Essentials magazine whose editor Kate Macfarlane advised the NSPCA in July that “I've discussed this broader issue with our features and travel writer and we've decided to do a blanket ban on animal-related activities in the magazine.”

NSPCA calls upon all publications to do the same and upon the public to make their voices heard by only supporting ethical destinations and encouraging visitors and tourists to do the same, for the animals’ sake.


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Re: TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

Post by Flutterby »

Good move! \O


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Re: TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

Post by Mel »

Incredible for such a large, well-known and well-used enterprise. Well done, TripAdvisor \O


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Re: TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

Post by stefan9 »

Well done.


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Re: TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

Post by Richprins »

Hmmm...this sort of thing is often a PR exercise, IMO. --00--

It blanket-covers a whole range of activities, and all species are different.

And money is vital for jobs etc...

What do you think will happen to those cubs should the places close up shop? -O-


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Re: TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

Post by Dzombo »

Richprins wrote:Hmmm...this sort of thing is often a PR exercise, IMO. --00--

It blanket-covers a whole range of activities, and all species are different.

And money is vital for jobs etc...

What do you think will happen to those cubs should the places close up shop? -O-
Agree with you.
I think a lot of this is motivated by Greenie Lefties.

There are bad organisations, but also some very good ones.
And although perhaps petting and human/animal interaction may not be ideal, it does play a role in education and environmental awareness.

A personal story:
This past April, my family and I went to Orlando.
Sea World came up as an option to visit.
I love Whales and other Cetaceans and have done a lot of reading and research on them.
Over the past few years, a very vocal, anti movment has arisen, mainly after the release of the movie "Blackfish"
Without going into the whole debate, a lot of poeple feel that it is incredibly cruel to keep Killer Whales in captivity. They want to have the shows stopped and the current kW returned to the wild, and non more kept in captivity.

So while we were planning the trip, the option of going to Sea World came up.
In the end, we decided to go. And we went to see the KW, and we saw the show.

My 8 yo daughter was absolutely mesmerised. She loved seeing the whales, and in fact her and myself went to one of the viewing windows and spent hours and hours watching them.
My daughter says that for her, the highlight of the whole trip (Magic Kingdom, Kennedy Space Centre and many other places) was Sea World.
And many months later she still talks about the day at Sea World and looks on You Tube for videos on whales and dolphins etc.
The awareness that the visit has raised in her is huge.

So is it cruel to keep KW in captivity? Probably.
But if those animals eventually create a love of animals, nature, and the wild, and eventual help with the protection of the ones out in the wild, then maybe it's not a bad thing?


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Re: TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

Post by Lisbeth »

To me it is morally wrong, because the animals cannot choose and it has been proved scientifically, that they are very intelligent animals. The number of orcas who have died in captivity is very high and there have also been quite a few mortal accidents ( of the trainers). The animals are victims of a blatantly commercial experiment.

Of course the children have fun, they also have when you take them to the zoo or to a circus.

If you had taken your daughter on a whale/dolphin watching tour, I am sure that she would have enjoyed it just as much, maybe even more.


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Re: TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

Post by stefan9 »

Richprins wrote:Hmmm...this sort of thing is often a PR exercise, IMO. --00--

It blanket-covers a whole range of activities, and all species are different.

And money is vital for jobs etc...

What do you think will happen to those cubs should the places close up shop? -O-
What happens to those cubs when they grow up though?


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Re: TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

Post by Mel »

And of those place should close up shop, there'd be at least an end to the whole matter. No need for new cubs to be brought in anymore -O-


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Re: TripAdvisor bans booking activities with captive animals

Post by Flutterby »

Agreed Mel. The cubs in these places are already doomed, but if it stops more cubs being bred then we can finally stop this horrible industry!


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