Captive wild animal encounters are hugely popular, thanks partly to social media. With the tap of a finger, travelers post their images of exotic animals for the world to see. Activities once publicized mostly in guidebooks are now shared instantly with multitudes of people by selfie-taking backpackers, tour-bus travelers, and social media “influencers” through a tap on their phone screens. The majority of millennials (20 to 40 year-olds) use social media while traveling. Their selfies - of swims with dolphins, encounters with tigers, ride on elephants, and more - are viral advertising for attractions that sell experiences with animals.
For all the visibility social media provides, it does not show what happens beyond the view of the camera lens.
In order for most animals to behave around tourists, they are taken and trained from a young age to become an attraction. For instance, baby elephants are taken from their mothers and subjected to a training process that involves inflicting severe pain with metal “bullhooks” or wooden batons. They are kept in small cages and always chained. The same happens to baby tigers, which have become a very popular attraction. Sometimes animals are even mutilated so that the tourists are not at risk in their presence. It is the case of the cobra which gets its thangs removed, in a painful surgery, so that snake charmers can perform in front of tourists. There are also massive animal farms that tourists can visit before the animals get eaten or killed to exploit their skins. Indeed, crocodiles have been farmed for their skin and meat for many years. Crocodiles are very sensitive to stress and feel even more threatened when the tourists visit the farm. You can also find the last remaining sea turtle farm that also acts as a tourist attraction in the Cayman Islands. Tourists get to play around with the turtles, sometimes even drop them, causing often fatal injuries. The visitors even get to eat turtles at part of their visit.
In the case of marine life, even if tourist activities do not directly exploit the marine animals, they do damage their environment. For example, careless boating, diving, snorkeling, and fishing have substantially damaged coral reefs in many parts of the world, through people touching reefs, stirring up sediment, and dropping anchors. Even though divers are mindful of marine life and snorkeling is viewed as a nature-friendly activity, these activities can greatly disrupt the fishes and other sea animals. Marine animals such as whale sharks, seals, dolphins, and whales are disturbed by increased numbers of boats, and by people approaching too closely. It can even confuse their migration-cycles patterns.
Here you might want to put the blame on the tourist organization that are avidly taking advantage of the animals for additional profits. But they are not the only ones to blame. In Gringo Trails, a documentary from Pegi Vail, a guide from the Bolivian Amazonia explains that he is pressured into “providing” a wildlife animal for the tourist pictures. If he does not comply with the tourist’s demand, they threaten to go to another cheaper tour that will for sure provide those attractions.
The World Animal Protection association analyzed more than 50,000 Trip Advisor reviews to gain insight into who visits these attractions. The findings showed that 80% of the visitors were unaware of the cruelty that the animals were being subjected to. Thus, to help stop animal cruelty within tourism, it is essential to inform travelers of the animal’s living conditions. So that the tourists can become aware of their impact on the animal kingdom. In addition, you can learn more about World Animal Protection’s work, and how you can help their cause at www.worldanimalprotection.org.au.
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