ONEMANAGING <strong>ANIMAL</strong> <strong>WELFARE</strong> IN TOURISMONEMANAGING <strong>ANIMAL</strong> <strong>WELFARE</strong> IN TOURISM4The business case for safeguardinganimal welfareRecently, travel provider members of <strong>ABTA</strong>’sAnimal Welfare Group analysed the rapidgrowth of animal attractions and animalinteraction experiences within their supplychains. One member found that more than70% of their excursion portfolio includedthe opportunity for customers to interactwith animals. Strong links have developedbetween tourism destinations and animalattractions, and for customers good animalwelfare standards are increasingly important.By adopting the Global Welfare Guidance forAnimals in Tourism, and a collaborativeapproach, travel providers working with thesemanuals are aiming to ensure that elementsof bad practice are phased out and thatassociated business risks are minimised.Customer pressure anddamaged reputationsCustomers can have a strong emotional linkto animals, and they regard animals in distress,neglected or abused, or commercially exploitedas unacceptable.Many travel providers have received customercomplaints relating to animal welfare. Thismay be in relation to an organised activitysold by the travel provider, such as a swimwith-dolphinsexcursion or horse riding. Or itmay be about something the customer haswitnessed in the destination, for example wildanimals being used for photo opportunities, orthe issue of stray animals in tourism resorts.Many travel providers have now made strongcommitments to sustainable tourism and areworking to ensure that these commitmentsare embedded in their supply chains.External pressures and campaignsAnimal attractions come under intenseexternal scrutiny from NGOs, charities andother stakeholders involved in the animalwelfare agenda. Over the years organisationshave campaigned loudly against animalattractions that exhibit poor or unacceptablepractices and against tourism businesses thatare linked to them. Some of these campaignshave been damaging to both the animalattraction and to tourism more broadly.CITES CASE STUDYA recent example involved dolphinstaken from waters near the SolomanIslands and moved to attractionsin the Caribbean and Asia. A publiccampaign against the capture of thesedolphins claimed that as no scientificstudies had been conducted into theeffects on the local dolphin population,these animals were being tradedillegally. The story was picked up bymainstream media, which made thedirect link between these activities andthe tourism industry.Whilst the EC Zoos Directive andthe CITES Convention does includeanimal welfare provisions, theseare minimal, lacking both detailedguidance and species-specificrequirements. Of concern, manytourism destination countries lackregulated welfare standards andtherefore, animal welfare may becompromised.Encouragingly however, through dialogue andengagement, both the industry and some ofthese organisations have agreed that workingtogether achieves more than working apart.For example, the Born Free Foundation hasbecome a key consultative partner to thetourism industry in relation to animal welfare.The legal dimensionThe legislation around animal welfare, animalacquisitions and keeping of animals is complexand subject to local variations. Many tourismdestination countries are official signatoriesto the Convention on International Trade inEndangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora(CITES). This convention aims to regulate thetrade in animals appearing on the InternationalUnited Conservation Network (IUCN)’s Red Listof Endangered Animals. This list includes animalssuch as bottlenose dolphins, a species commonlyfound in tourist attractions. Under the articlesof the convention, capture and trade in theseanimals is regulated and is only permitted wherescientific investigations conclude that capturewill not adversely affect wild populations andthat transport safeguards welfare.Enforcement of CITES can vary fromdestination to destination. More informationabout CITES can be found in Section 7 ofthis document.KEY POINTS• The popularity of animalattractions and interactionis increasing with tourists.• It is not acceptable foranimals to be treated badly:travel providers and touristsexpect certain standards ofanimal welfare.• Risk to travel providersof badly managed animalattractions include:reputational damage;customer complaints; healthand safety; NGO pressure.• The tourism and animalattraction industries can worktogether to safeguard bestpractice in animal welfare.Working together for progressThere is a strong case for the tourism andanimal attractions industries to work togetherto ensure that best practice around animalwelfare becomes commonplace in animalattractions. This will not only improve thecustomer experience but also safeguard themutual interests of both sectors.This Global Welfare Guidance for Animals inTourism and its supporting manuals are thefirst step towards this. They not only establishminimum requirements of animal welfarebut also the potential levels of best practiceachievable. In doing so, the aim is to removebad practices.5GLOBAL <strong>WELFARE</strong> GUIDANCE FOR <strong>ANIMAL</strong>S IN TOURISM: A Best Practice Guidance Manual ©2013 <strong>ABTA</strong> GLOBAL <strong>WELFARE</strong> GUIDANCE FOR <strong>ANIMAL</strong>S IN TOURISM: A Best Practice Guidance Manual ©2013 <strong>ABTA</strong>
TWOWHAT IS <strong>ANIMAL</strong> <strong>WELFARE</strong>?TWOWHAT IS <strong>ANIMAL</strong> <strong>WELFARE</strong>?6SECTION 2What is animal welfare?Animal welfare refers to the state of an animal. An animal is in a reasonablestate of welfare if it is healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, able to expressinnate behaviour and if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain,fear and distress. Other terms such as animal care, husbandry or humanetreatment refer to how an animal is looked after. Reasonable animal welfarerequires disease prevention and veterinary treatment, appropriate shelter,management, nutrition, humane handling and humane slaughter/euthanasia.Animals in a captive environment rely on the care and ability of humans toprovide them with what they need to maintain their welfare.7Appropriate animal careIn order to encourage best practice in animalwelfare in the tourism supply chain, the GlobalWelfare Guidance for Animals in Tourism andthe six supporting guidance manuals buildupon the principles of the Five Freedoms(developed by the Farm Animal WelfareCouncil (FAWC 1979)) and the WelfareQuality® criteria. See Appendix 6: Sourcesof further reading.The Welfare Quality® criteria were originallydeveloped for farmed domestic animals.An additional three criteria have beenincluded to address animals in tourism. Theseadditional criteria appear in bold in Table 1.KEY POINTS• You are responsible for ananimal if you supply, own or arein charge of it.• Five Freedoms form the basis ofgood animal welfare.• Welfare Quality® criteria definethe details of good animal welfare.GLOBAL <strong>WELFARE</strong> GUIDANCE FOR <strong>ANIMAL</strong>S IN TOURISM: A Best Practice Guidance Manual ©2013 <strong>ABTA</strong> GLOBAL <strong>WELFARE</strong> GUIDANCE FOR <strong>ANIMAL</strong>S IN TOURISM: A Best Practice Guidance Manual ©2013 <strong>ABTA</strong>
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