HOW TO BE A A COMPASSIONATE TRAVELLER
An explosive report revealed that more than half a million exotic animals are enslaved worldwide in the tourism industry. From selfies with tigers to elephant rides, these activities may be hurting animals more than you know. Here’s what to avoid if you want to make sure your compassion is packed neatly in your suitcase along with your favourite vegan leather flip-flops.
Elephant Rides
Elephants are intelligent and selfaware animals, and they don’t want to carry camera-toting tourists on their backs. A tourist was killed when an elephant whom he and his daughter were riding at an “elephant park” in Thailand snapped and trampled and gored the man to death. Witnesses reported that shortly before the attack, the mahout (handler) had hit the elephant several times with a bullhook, a weapon resembling a fireplace poker with a sharp hook at one end. Just a week earlier, a mahout at the same facility was caught on tape hitting and taunting an elephant. This elephant, like many before him, finally reached a breaking point.
Selfies With Baby Tigers
What might seem like a harmless photo to you might mean a lifetime of misery for a baby tiger or any other animal forced to pose for pictures at a roadside zoo or other attraction. Baby tigers used at photo attractions are typically torn from their distraught mothers when they are just days old and then subjected to extreme stress and physical abuse. Once these tigers are no longer babies and are too dangerous to handle, they typically end up locked away in cages. Tiger selfies have nothing to do with conservation, despite the claims that tourist-trap operators may make to get you to participate. The animals offered up for selfies are bred for only one reason: to line the pockets of their abusers.
A picture of you with a cute baby tiger might get you a few likes on Instagram, but these selfies come at a high cost to the animals. And remember: It’s not only tigers who suffer for photo ops. Avoid any place that allows people to interact with bears, monkeys, alligators, lions, or any other animal and charges for a photo op with these animals.
Horse, Donkey, Camel, or Any Other Animal Rides
Riding horses, donkeys, mules, camels, or any other animals is cruel.animals are being dragged around and forced to bear the weight of humans, carriages, and tourists’ luggage. In Petra, Jordan, donkeys are made to scale and descend treacherous terrain and stairs.
If they hesitate, they’re beaten. You may see signs at tourist destinations asserting high animal-welfare standards, but they’re false and exist to placate tourists. You can avoid putting money into the pockets of animal abusers by steering clear of these rides completely.
Swimming With Dolphins
Just because dolphins look like they’re smiling doesn’t mean that they’re happy to be stuck in tourist-infested tanks, away from their ocean homes, and forced to swim and interact with humans. Being confined to cramped tanks and harassed all day long can be extremely traumatic for dolphins, who are social and intelligent animals who naturally swim up to 60 miles a day with their families when they’re in their ocean homes. Many dolphins develop painful conditions, such as stomach ulcers, and most die prematurely from the stressful conditions of captivity.
Fish Pedicures
Yes, it’s a thing, and it’s as gross and cruel as it sounds. Some U.S. states have already banned fish pedicures, and legislation for additional bans is pending in other states. The fish used in these pedicures are starved so that they’re hungry enough to eat the flesh off human feet. And the fish are ultimately discarded as if they were used-up emery boards, not living beings.
Horse-drawn Carriage Rides
For the animal who is strapped in a harness, surrounded by noisy traffic, and forced to work long hours in the blazing heat and freezing cold, there’s nothing romantic about a horse-drawn carriage ride. Many horses have collapsed under the stress. The list of accidents involving horse-drawn carriages grows every year, so this is definitely a vacay activity to skip for the sake of the horses’ wellbeing and your own safety.
Visiting Aquariums and Zoos
No zoo or aquarium can begin to replicate animals’ natural homes. Tanks and cages are no place for animals who roam hundreds of miles a day when in the wild. These places teach people that it’s acceptable to interfere with animals and keep them locked up in captivity, where they’re bored, cramped, lonely, and denied all control over their lives. Definitely not a good lesson to teach the kiddos over spring break this year.
The great news is that you can still have the best and most compassionate vacation ever by taking advantage of the tons of animal-friendly activities that are available out there.
If you want to observe animals, consider visiting or volunteering at an accredited sanctuary. Take photos of sea lions sunbathing in their natural habitat. Go to non-animal circuses, drink local vegan wine, go dancing, go to museums, and more. If you’re traveling to the greater Manila area, you have an opportunity to help animals by volunteering with PETA’S KLIP programme.
Being confined to cramped tanks and harassed all day long can be extremely traumatic for dolphins, who are social and intelligent animals who naturally swim up to 60 miles a day with their families when they’re in their ocean homes. Many dolphins develop painful conditions, such as stomach ulcers, and most die prematurely from the stressful conditions of captivity.