Is TripAdvisor’s animal welfare policy harming wild animals?

Three Dolphins in a show at Seaworld. They are doing a stand up out of the water trick where they propel backwards on their tails.

TripAdvisor is coming under fire from animal protection groups for making changes to their animal welfare policy.

Last week, the travel review platform released a statement outlining changes to their policy, under which animal shows and performances where animals were “forced to perform demeaning tricks of unnatural behaviours” are to be banned from sale on the site.

But  World Animal Protection (WAP) has called out TripAdvisor for creating what they’re calling a “loophole” in the policy.

Under the new changes, some physical interactions with wild animals will now be eligible for sale on TripAdvisor and its subsidiary Viator.

“Most notably, any feeding or touching program that is conducted under the supervision of trained officials, where any physical contact between the animals and the guests is initiated by the animals themselves and the animals have the freedom to disengage from that contact at their own will,” said the statement.

“Similarly, invertebrate touch-and-feel experiences that are used for education purposes, such as spider encounters designed to help treat arachnophobia, will also be eligible for sale.”

You can read their animal welfare policy in full here.

Nick Stewart, Head of Wildlife in Entertainment at WAP said in a statement the policy now falls short of what it’s intended to do: protect wild animals.

“The message that the travel site is sending out is conflicted; their new policy bans some shows and performances but not all, and it looks they are going back on their original policy by continuing to sell tickets to some physical interactions with wild animals instead of banning all wildlife interactions,” said Stewart.

“We want TripAdvisor to remove the sale and promotion of all cruel wildlife entertainment attractions.”

“The travel industry is learning fast that using wild animals for entertainment is cruel – these animals are taken from their mothers at a young age and endure harsh training regimes to break their spirits and make them submissive enough to entertain tourists.”

A spokesperson for Tripadvisor told Travel Weekly they believe the concerns expressed by WAP are largely unfounded.

“They misrepresent the changes we have made,” the spokesperson said.

“They wrongly assert that our 2016 policy introduced a blanket ban on all experiences involving physical interaction with wild animals.”

“There were always certain exceptions to our rules on ‘no physical contact’, such as aquarium touch pools and supervised feeding programmes at zoos. We were always transparent about this.”

The spokesperson also asserted TripAdvisor has consulted numerous experts in the field before making the changes.

“We anticipate that fewer animal experiences will now be eligible for sale under our new policy than had been under our 2016 policy.”

WAP is calling for TripAdvisor to remove all “cruel wildlife entertainment attractions”.

“This would include ending sales to well-known places like Sea World and Loro Parque, which still seem to be on sale, despite their new animal welfare policy,” WAP said in a statement.

“TripAdvisor has the potential to make a huge difference to the lives of wild animals by educating their customers and only promoting wildlife-friendly alternatives, like watching whales and dolphins responsibly in the wild,” said Stewart.

“This is where they could make a real impact.”

“If no further changes are made to TripAdvisor’s policy, wild animals will continue to suffer, and they will fall behind while other travel companies take the lead.”

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