First and foremost, do some research
It pays to do your homework! A brief google search will provide more than enough horrible details to make you consider going for wildlife tourism. A brief google search will provide more than enough horrible details to make you consider going for wildlife tourism. Get all the facts, and you’ll see that most forms of wildlife tourism, such as riding elephants in Asia or wandering with lions in South Africa, aren’t appropriate for tourists.
Use trusted operating partners
If you’re going on a tour, follow the first step and do some study before you go. What are some of the stops on tour? Is the tour company a member of any organizations dedicated to wildlife conservation?
Go out and ask them
Check with your tour operator or agent to see if they have an animal protection policy before booking. Is the treatment of the animals adequate? Book if you’re confident they’ll show. Make a call and request further information if you can’t find what you’re looking for on their website or elsewhere — and don’t book if you’re not satisfied.
If you ask around or post a question on the internet, you’re likely to get an answer from someone you know or anyone who has had experience with the product.
Don’t ride elephants
It’s time to stop visitors from riding elephants in the first place. Elephants are stolen from their mothers at a young age and mistreated physically and psychologically to ‘teach’ them to accept riders. They’re chained, struck with clubs containing nails and hooks, and yelled at frantically.
To put it simply, this training is incredibly harmful to these intelligent and emotional animals.
Please, don’t fund the training that ‘breaks’ young elephants so that they can train them for you. That’s all there is to it.
Avoid animal ‘performances’
It may seem like a harmless type of entertainment when you’re in the moment, but remember that these creatures are not here for our amusement. It doesn’t matter if it’s street monkeys and bears, animal circuses, SeaWorld, tiger temples, or canned lion hunts — whatever the format, it works.
In most cases, these creatures have been taken away from their families and social systems and then “taught” to perform for visitors through brutal or violent methods.
Check out the places you go shopping, eating, and sleeping
Souvenir stores that offer things derived from wild animals, such as fur and ivory, should be avoided.
Do not dine at a restaurant if it serves food that has been sourced from threatened species or has been prepared maliciously.
Only encounter wildlife in the wild
Seeing an African elephant herd meander over the plains at dusk, an Indian tiger stopping to drink at a river, a Borneo orangutan swinging through the lush canopy of the forest, or a whale migration to warmer seas are some of the most memorable travel experiences.
When possible, stay as far away from caged animals as possible and instead go to see them in their natural surroundings.
Regardless of culture, cruelty is cruelty.
According to various cultures, the use of animals in religious celebrations is all part of a region’s long history. However, just because something is a centuries-old tradition doesn’t automatically make it acceptable.
Don’t allow culture to justify animal abuse. Now it’s 2022; we are significantly more knowledgeable about animals than in the past. It’s cruel and out-of-date to remove animals from their natural surroundings and disrupt their social systems in this way.
What is terrible in one culture should be inhumane in all of them, regardless of where it occurs.