Tag: wild animals

World Animal Protection reveals the travel company culprits STILL exploiting wildlife

Companies like TUI Musement, GetYourGuide, Trip.com, AttractionTickets.com and Jet2holidays are STILL, exploiting wildlife for profit despite 84%1 of UK citizens who believe that tour operators should not sell activities that cause wild animals suffering, according to a report by World Animal Protection.

Elephant riding, selfies with tiger cubs and swimming with dolphins were some of the cruel wildlife activities on offer by these travel brands, according to the Real Responsible Traveller report.

The study reviewed 9 leading travel companies on their commitment to animal welfare and wildlife friendly tourism with the aim to help holiday makers plan a wildlife friendly holiday.

Thousands of wild animals every year are forced to perform for tourist entertainment or be subjects for tourist “experiences” that are incredibly unnatural and stressful for them.

This skeletal baby elephant was forced to “rave” to music, “play” musical instruments, and perform tricks, all for tourists’ entertainment at Phuket Zoo in Thailand. Despite a global campaign to free him, he died after his back legs snapped beneath him.

For example, elephants in entertainment are captured in the wild or born into captivity and taken from their mothers at an early age. They are then subjected to violent training regimes causing huge physical and psychological harm.

Dolphins used for entertainment are mostly bred in captivity, (although some are still captured from the wild) and kept in barren tanks a tiny fraction of their natural home range which creates huge distress for these wonderful animals.

Travelling responsibly means never including captive wildlife entertainment or experiences on your itinerary and refusing to book your holiday with travel companies which may claim to offer responsible, sustainable travel, while continuing to profit from wild animal exploitation.

The report also shows the travel companies who have made significant, positive steps for wildlife over recent years including Airbnb, and Booking.com. Expedia has improved in some areas, having stopped selling captive dolphin entertainment in 2021.  

Katheryn Wise, World Animal Protection, Wildlife Campaign Manager, said: “Holiday makers have made it clear; they don’t want tour operators selling animal suffering, but the reality is, suffering is still being sold under the guise of entertainment.

“Who you book your holiday with matters. TUI Musement, Jet2holidays, GetYourGuide Trip.com and Attraction Tickets.com are STILL exploiting captive wild animals.

“World Animal Protection is urging responsible travellers to join us in challenging these companies to do better for animals. Real responsible travellers have the power to act and create lasting change for wild animals by refusing to support companies that still treat wild animals as commodities who they can exploit for profit.

“For more information on how you can make a difference visit our Real Responsible Travel Page at www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/real-responsible-traveller.

“We are also urging the UK government to take action by passing the Animals (Low Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill, which sees its second parliamentary reading take place on February 3rd. This important bill intends to stop the sale and advertising of activities abroad which involve low standards of welfare for animals.”

The Real Responsible Traveller report builds on World Animal Protection’s 2020 Tracking the Travel Industry report, which assessed Airbnb, AttractionTickets.com, Booking.com, DER Touristik, Expedia, Flight Centre, GetYourGuide, Klook,  The Travel Corporation, Viator, Trip.com and TUI Musement.    

World Animal Protection commissioned the University of Surrey who independently analysed the public commitments travel companies have, and haven’t, made.    

Companies were scored across four key areas:     

  1. Commitment: Availability and quality of published animal welfare policies and how applicable they are to all their brands
  2. Targets and performance: Availability and scope of published time bound targets and reports on progress towards meeting animal welfare commitments
  3. Changing industry supply: Availability and quality of engagement with suppliers and the overall industry, to implement wildlife-friendly changes
  4. Changing consumer demand: Availability and quality of educational animal welfare content and tools to empower consumers to make wildlife-friendly travel choices
They are cruelly trained, chained, abused and exposed to frequent interactions with tourists, loud noises and constant camera flashes. This is no life for a tiger, and why we’re calling on Thai authorities to introduce a breeding ban of captive tigers in Thailand and for better welfare standards for tigers in entertainment venues. In the picture: Tigers spend the day chained for tourist photos. The teeth of this one had also been clipped.

World Animal Protection then checked to see if they offered any of the five “animal attractions”:    

  • Elephant rides, feeding and washing  
  • Feeding or petting primates
  • Selfies, shows, petting or walking with big cats  
  • Swimming with captive dolphins and dolphin shows
  • The sale of any interactive “experiences” involving any captive wild animals (including for example sea lions, crocodiles and alligators)

For more information about industry best practices and how holidaymakers can make their concerns known to the travel companies click here.

Exotic pets on the rise in Scotland

Are you living next door to some of the world’s deadliest creatures?

A new survey conducted by Born Free has revealed that nearly 4,000 dangerous wild animals are being privately kept in Great Britain – 255 of which are living in Scotland.

The international wildlife charity is calling on the UK Government to immediately review the law and put a stop to some of the world’s most remarkable, but often deadly, creatures being kept as ‘pets’ in unsuitable captive conditions.

Born Free’s research reviewed the number of Dangerous Wild Animal (DWA) Act licences granted by local authorities in 2020 across England, Scotland and Wales, and the variety of species being privately kept.

Councils in Scotland revealed that the licences granted cover 255 dangerous wild animals residing in the area, of which there are at least:

●        8 venomous lizards including Beaded lizards and Gila monsters (above)

●        8 venomous snakes including a Taipan, a Mamba, and a King cobra

●        100 Scorpions

●        54 cats including an Asian leopard cat, Savannah cats, and Caracals

●        18 Ostrich

●        19 Bison

●        8 crocodilians including American alligators, Spectacled caimans, and Broad-snouted caimans

●        19 Wild boar

●        5 Przewalski’s wild horse

●        16 primates including Black and white ruffed lemurs and Ring-tailed lemurs

Shockingly, the entire combined data across all UK authorities highlighted that a total of 210 DWA licences were granted for the keeping of 3,951 individual wild animals including:

●        320 wild cats (including 61 big cats – 11 lions, 8 tigers, 11 leopards, 18 pumas, 10 cheetahs, 2 ligers and 1 jaguar)

●        274 primates (including over 150 lemurs)

●        158 crocodilians

●        508 venomous snakes (including 57 diamondback rattlesnakes)

●        332 scorpions

●        106 venomous lizards

●        2 elephants

Other species on the DWA list that are being kept as pets or in private collections in the UK include zebras, camels, fossa (a kind of civet), hyaena, sun bears, wolves, and otters.

Dr Mark Jones, Veterinarian and Born Free’s Head of Policy, states: “Born Free has been collating and analysing DWA data for over 20 years.

“Since the millennium the wild animal welfare and conservation charity has seen a dramatic increase in the number of exotic pets in private ownership, including a 94% increase in the number of venomous snakes, 57% increase in wild cats, 198% increase in crocodilians and over a 2000% increase in scorpions.

“However, these figures are likely to represent only the tip of the iceberg. They only record those animals being kept and registered with a DWA licence. Born Free believes that many additional dangerous wild animals are being kept without a licence.”

Currently, under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976, anyone in Britain can keep a dangerous wild animal as long as they obtain a licence from their Local Authority.

The licencing process requires the applicant to demonstrate that their animals are properly contained so as to prevent escape and protect the public, but this does little to ensure the welfare of the animals or the protection of the owner or anyone else visiting the property.

While changes have been made to the schedule, Born Free is highlighting the fact that the Act itself has not been reviewed substantially for more than 40 years.

This means, for example, that species such as Komodo dragons, other large monitors, and large constrictor snakes are not included on the schedule, despite the fact that they could pose a serious risk to their owners, and to members of the public, should they escape.

Furthermore, there is long-standing concern about widespread non-compliance with the Act, especially with respect to venomous reptiles and invertebrates.

Dr Mark Jones commented: “It is unbelievable that, in this day and age, so many dangerous animals, including big cats, large primates, crocodiles and venomous snakes, are in private ownership in the UK.

“Increasing demand for all kinds of wild animals as exotic pets puts owners and the wider public at risk of injury or disease. It also results in serious animal suffering, and the demand increases the pressure on many wild populations which are often already under threat.”

Just last year a hybrid Savannah cat escaped in Hampstead, London, while a seven-foot-long Boa constrictor appeared in someone’s back garden and then turned on its rescuer biting his hand and wrapping itself around his wrist on the Isle of Sheppey.

There have been other horror stories where a woman was bitten in the eye by a python at Mayfair club and almost blinded, while a man in Hampshire was killed by his 8ft African rock python.

These are just a handful of cases that have been reported. In fact, records held by the RSPCA report that their specially-trained exotics officers rescued over 4,000 exotic animals in 2018 alone. Due to the nature of the animals, most owners fail to report escapes or attacks for fear of the animal being removed or their licence revoked. 

Mark continued: “The UK likes to claim to be at the forefront of efforts to protect nature and improve the welfare of animals, yet our legislation governing the keeping of and trade in exotic pets is woefully outdated.

“While the Government’s recent proposal to ban the keeping of and trade in primates as pets is a welcome first step, there are many other species that need to be protected from this form of exploitation.

“The Dangerous Wild Animals Act should be overhauled as a matter of urgency, in order to phase-out the private keeping of and trade in those species that clearly don’t belong in people’s homes.”

To find out what dangerous animals are living in other counties across the UK you can use Born Free’s interactive map on their website – www.bornfree.org.uk/dwamap.

Some of the world’s most dangerous wild animals are living at private addresses in Scotland

From deadly snakes and crocodiles, to lions, leopards, bears and even an elephant: Born Free reveals that nearly 5,000 dangerous wild animals are being privately kept right here in Britain

A survey conducted by the Born Free Foundation has revealed that 4,798 dangerous wild animals are being privately kept in Great Britain – 496 of which are living in Scotland. Now the international wildlife charity is petitioning the UK Government to immediately review the law, and put a stop to some of the world’s most remarkable but often deadly creatures being in kept in unsuitable environments. Continue reading Some of the world’s most dangerous wild animals are living at private addresses in Scotland