Philip Mansbridge, CEO, Care for the Wild, talks about responsible animal tourism. Care for the Wild runs the www.RIGHT-tourism.org website where tourists can get information on animal “attractions,” customs and issues for every country in the world.

As a continuation of Friday’s blog - Animal tourism – telling the good from the bad (Part 1), I would like to share three more tips on telling the good from the bad.

Do your research.

If you’re thinking of visiting a zoo, sanctuary, aquarium or such, take a moment to look them up. Do they mention the welfare of the animals and actively ensure their natural needs and requirements are met? If it is not explicitly stated on their collateral or website, chances are this isn’t an integral part of their operations and they should be skipped.

This is just one of many things we can do, as tourists, to ensure that our holiday doesn’t cause an animal to suffer. We can actively do things that encourage animal welfare and conservation, and provide the financial support for these missions. For example, visiting a sanctuary where animals are rescued and kept in their natural environment, rather than a zoo, brings financial support to that organization. One caveat, some places use the word sanctuary loosely, so be sure to do your research to make sure this place is an actual sanctuary.

Lastly, it is not easy untangling the good from the bad, here are some clues:

Responsible Wildlife Tourism Experiences Should:

• Offer an interpretive (educational) program that highlights the importance of wildlife in terms of conservation and ecosystem function
• Provide as natural and un-invasive an experience as possible
• Avoid hand feeding or handling of wildlife
• Contribute to the conservation of the local area and its wildlife via research, financial support, and habitat restoration.

This in turn, should lead to potential positive impacts on conservation and wildlife including:

• Protection of wildlife species and habitats
• Financial and practical contributions for wildlife projects: visitor donations, government charges/levies, and user fees in places like national parks
• Economic incentives for wildlife/habitat conservation
• Employment of lot of endangered/threatened wildlife species
• It’s an old adage that you should leave only footprints when you’re away, and we really believe that. Tourism is a difficult paradigm for many countries, especially poor and developing ones. They need the money and the jobs and can see tourism just as a cash cow and a quick answer to their problems. That being said, there are issues with developing tourism as a long-term economic driver. Countries need to avoid pumping out mass tourism with no future planning and need to not only encourage sustainable tourism but also legislate for it as well. Talking about these issues isn’t enough, as when the wildlife goes, the tourists go with it. When once idyllic beaches get so overbuilt that the coral dies and the seas get polluted, the tourists go to the next “it” pristine beach.
• While there are still some issues to be worked out with travel and wildlife, don’t be afraid of booking your holiday of a lifetime that involves animals. It just takes a little thought and planning from yourself—and your responsible tour operator—to ensure that your actions don’t end up hurting the very thing that you are going to see. cal people in wildlife tourism
• Environmental education about wildlife
• Publicising the plight of endangered/threatened wildlife species

It’s an old adage that you should leave only footprints when you’re away, and we really believe that. Tourism is a difficult paradigm for many countries, especially poor and developing ones. They need the money and the jobs and can see tourism just as a cash cow and a quick answer to their problems. That being said, there are issues with developing tourism as a long-term economic driver. Countries need to avoid pumping out mass tourism with no future planning and need to not only encourage sustainable tourism but also legislate for it as well. Talking about these issues isn’t enough, as when the wildlife goes, the tourists go with it. When once idyllic beaches get so overbuilt that the coral dies and the seas get polluted, the tourists go to the next “it” pristine beach.

While there are still some issues to be worked out with travel and wildlife, don’t be afraid of booking your holiday of a lifetime that involves animals. It just takes a little thought and planning from yourself—and your responsible tour operator—to ensure that your actions don’t end up hurting the very thing that you are going to see.