While some animal encounters are easily spotted as unethical – like tiger selfies, others aren’t easily identifiable. It’s imperative that we educate ourselves about how to respect animals. Where are many benefits of wildlife tourism, it’s important that the encounter is an ethical one in order to be beneficial. I learned the hard way some of the things to look for, so I am doing my part by educating others. Here are my ten things to check for to know if an animal encounter is ethical. It’s important that anyone visiting animals is a responsible tourist.
Be sure to check out my list of the cruelest animal encounters that you’ll want to avoid as well as this list of over 30 ethical animal encounters around the world. There’s also an entire section of this site devoted to ethical animal tourism where you can find the companies and experiences for you!
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Are the animals considered wild?
Wild animal encounters are the most ethical type of animal tourism. You meet the animal where they are, in their habitat. However, even this can be unethical. If a company guarantees sightings, feeds the animals, or does anything to keep the animals nearby – they may not have the animal’s best interest in mind.
Remember the golden rule of animal encounters – take only photographs, leave only footprints.
Safaris are some of the best ethical animal encounters because they bring you into the animals’ habitat. However, as tourism rises on safari, some guides have been feeding animals in order to lure them closer to the vehicles. This is what can prompt these animals to attack humans.
Our South Africa safari, in Kruger National Park, told us how they get cubs used to humans without viewing them as a threat or a food provider – and I think it’s a pretty awesome way! They knew a leopard had cubs in a small area with a few trees. They put a safari vehicle out there and left the radio on so you can hear humans talking. The animals learn that humans are present without being impacted by them (Which is probably why this leopard wasn’t afraid to walk by the vehicle and didn’t attack us thinking we had food).
If the animals are not wild, were they taken from the wild?
Many animal shows or encounters include animals that were taken directly from their home. Younger animals are easier to train than adult animals who have their animalistic tendencies firmly set. Animal encounters that often take babies include tiger selfies and lion walks. I mean, who doesn’t want to pose with an adorable kitten? But these animals should be with their families learning to hunt, not being handled by humans, and learning to be docile.
If they are wild, is there a procedure to return the animals to the wild?
This is a big must! Many places say that they are a sanctuary, but what is the end goal? The goal shouldn’t be to house them until they die – unless they need to. The goal should be to return the animal to the wild.
Unfortunately, animals that are rescued from unethical animal experiences often cannot be returned to the wild due to a life in captivity. They don’t know how to hunt or protect themselves. (More on this in the next question).
While returning the animals to the wild may not always be possible, is it a core goal of the organization? If so, then it is probably an ethical animal experience.
What is the animal’s backstory?
A true animal rescue is happy to tell the animal’s backstory. It pulls at the heartstrings (and therefore increases donations). When you visit a place like the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, you’ll learn about each of the orphan’s parents and what happened to them in order for the child to become an orphan. Bonus – their goal is also to send the animals back into the wild and have a great success rate with this!
Are the animals well fed? Do they have easy access to water?
One of the biggest signs of an unethical experience is hunger. If you can see the ribs of an animal, or if the animal is being fed in front of you, it’s an unethical animal experience.
If there is a small watering bowl for a large animal, that is also a red flag. Animals need access to water regularly and easily to survive and thrive.
If food and/or water are used as a reward that is another bad sign. Animals should not have to work for their food.
Are the animals comfortable?
If an animal is relaxed and comfortable, it means that they are in a safe environment. The environment in the sanctuary should be similar to the spaces they live in in the wild. Is there space for them to roam, hunt, and play? This is especially important to look for in zoos. Not all zoos are created equal. The Ranua Wildlife Park in Finland is a good example of a positive zoo. The animals here are all from Nordic countries, and the zoo is open-air and outside, so the animals are in an environment similar to their own. I believe the only animal not found in Finland in the park is the polar bear. They all seemed comfortable and happy in the cold weather – which I believe a giraffe would not. As someone who grew up in New Jersey with Six Flags Safari park, I always wondered what the giraffes and elephants thought of our snow and cold!
Are the animals free from pain, injury, or disease?
This one may be hard to spot if you’re not sure what to look for. However, you can still see injuries with limps, cuts, scars, and bruising. Also, if the guide tells you not to touch the animal in a certain spot, that might be where they hit the animal. For example, circus trainers often tased the area behind the top of the elephant’s leg, so that would be very sensitive.
Scars are more difficult since we’re not sure where they came from. If they are rescued from an unethical animal experience, then they may have scars from before. Or if they were in a fight in the wild that brought them to the center for recovery. The animal backstory should help clarify any scarring. Many animals that live in the water have scars from boating, so that might be a normal occurrence.
Are the animals allowed to express normal behaviors?
Every animal has their own unique behaviors. An encounter that tries to stop an animal from engaging in those behaviors is a negative one.
A good example of this is walking with lions. This is also one of the cruelest animal experiences due to the prevention of allowing lions to be lions. They are often taken from their pride at a very young age. Lions are cats, meaning they like to play, hunt, and wander. “Walking lions” are not allowed to play with tourists or wander far. They are forced to be docile and kept on leashes.
Are the animals free from fear and distress?
Animals that are well cared for and loved are comfortable with their handlers. It’s simple. Fearful animals have probably been abused during their stay. It was easy to tell that the orphaned elephants at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust were happy. They were affectionate with their handlers (who only allowed us to pet the elephants if they came to us), played around in the mud, picked up sticks together, and just seemed truly happy.
Is the experience affiliated with a major animal conservation group?
This is probably the easiest way to determine the ethical-ness of an experience (which is why I saved it for last) The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) endorses animal projects around the world that fulfill their strict requirement. There are a few organizations that do certifications like this – some are international, and some are country-specific. The website of the experience should include this information in the “About Us” section of the website.
Conclusion
This list is by no means exhaustive – so please let me know if there’s anything you ask or look out for when looking for an ethical animal experience in the comments and I’ll add it to the post! Basically, you want to make sure that the animal has a life worth living – or are they ‘living’ to make another human being money?
Read More about Ethical Animal Encounters
How Ethical Animal Tourism Benefits Nature & Wildlife
Cruel Animal Encounters to Avoid
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This is a really interesting and thoughtful post. As a vegan, it’s always a very important topic for me to make sure every animal encounter on my travels is ethical. I rather prefer not to meet animals if I can’t make sure it’s ok with my vegan lifestyle. Thanks a lot for sharing this!
I am totally in step with you on this one. I hate zoos and any place the encloses animals unnaturally. I have even avoided certain animal sanctuaries because I was not convinced they were ethical. I lost out on seeing those animals but was happy in the knowledge that I had not contributed to them being captured and paraded for our enjoyment.
That trick with leaving a safari vehicle near the animals so they would get accustomed to it and the radio on to hear human voices is a clever idea.
Some great suggestions here on how to ensure the animal centre is all that it should be.
I want to go on a safari and these things to ask or pay attention to. Animals should all be free to live in their natural habitat without intervention from man. I had no idea that some elephants got tasted when in a circus! That’s awesul and when you think about it no animal should be held captive unless they’re injured.
It’s natural that we want to see wild animals in their natural habitat. I love animal encounters but I’m also aware that it causes the animals stress, regardless how ethical it is done e.g. happening in its natural environment. I have the example of dolphin and whale watching in mind in particular. What drives me nuts is when they let families with young screaming kids take part and the people leading the encounter never brief them, so the kids scream and it gets stressful for the animals and other people who wish to enjoy the rare opportunity to respectfully watch some of their fav animals.
Carolin | Solo Travel Story
Great post. I actually love zoos and aquariums; they are often not done well but I love visiting the ones that are. These are great questions to ask before and during each experience to make it the best it can be. Thanks for the suggestions!
Yes to all of these!! Ever since traveling to Thailand, the amount of people I’ve encountered who tell me they’ve always wanted to travel there to ride elephants makes my stomach turn. This is such an awesome resource for helping people find ethical ways to have animal experiences if that’s what they’re looking for! Great article! 🙂
That’s exactly what I’ve heard about Thailand too! And I’m like “well, let me tell you….” haha it may dampen the mood, but there are ethical places in Thailand to see elephants! We just have to look a little closer.
There are so many things to think about when we consider ethical animal encounters that I for one really appreciate this list. I’ve definitely done my research in the past before visiting somewhere but it can be overwhelming to think about so I really like how you laid this out. At the end of the day doing your due diligence is all we can ask of people and hopefully the more people who become aware of these problems, the less of the places that take advantage will be able to continue
This is an article that speaks volumes to me. I am totally against animal exploitation for tourism purposes and even visits to nature parks, when done in a mass tourist way, can cause them a lot of stress. Thank you for sharing
This is thoughtful and could be slightly controversial as many travellers are seen experiencing activities that don’t promote ethical animal encounters. It’s such a personal decision. I, personally, am vegetarian, don’t visit zoos, and would never be interested in an elephant ride for my own enjoyment. But don’t pass judgement on those that do. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it, it gives us all pause to reflect.
I love this detailed post, because it’s so important to maintaining the safety, wellbeing, and happiness of these animals. It’s natural for us to be curious about animals, their habitats, how they behave, and so on. But, like you’ve clearly stated, our curiosity for seeing animals must be ethical and the people who allow us to get a glimpse at these creatures need to be ethical as well.
This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking post. Society is becoming much more aware of animal exploitation for tourism and posts like this will continue to broaden understanding.
It seems sensible to support efforts to deepen scientific and behavioural knowledge while protecting at-risk species and animals who can not be returned to the wild. I am against all types of performance or forced interactions. I (now) always look for the WWF logo and have learned to trust my first impression.