Amongst the glossy brochures and glowing online reviews, many tourist attractions promote up-close encounters with animals, such as elephant rides, cradling koalas, and swimming and feeding whale sharks, as must-do experiences. But these interactions come with a huge cost: the welfare of the animals themselves. What looks like harmless fun and a connection with culture is frequently built on a foundation of exploitation, captivity, and suffering, with shortened lifespans and reliance on humans. As conscious travellers, we must ask ourselves whether the pursuit of an adventure should come at the expense of an animal’s freedom- and the answer is always no.
Encounters with animals should have absolutely no place in tourism.
Elephants are a huge attraction across Asia for tourist rides- which is both ethically and anatomically abusive, as elephants’ spines are not built for riding, and results in long-term spinal damage and internal injuries, as well as foot rot and arthritis. In Thailand, approximately 2,800 elephants are held in captivity for tourism purposes, which surpasses the number of wild elephants in the country. Many of them are subjected to harsh training methods and kept in inadequate conditions.
If you desperately need to see elephants for your trip, rigorously identifying ethical sanctuaries is integral; ensure that the destinations prioritise elephants’ natural behaviour and autonomy. There should be no direct contact between visitors and elephants, such as bathing them, feeding them, touching them, or riding them; they should be in open spaces where they are able to roam in natural herds, untethered or confined with chains or bullhooks; and the elephants should be rescued from places like circuses, logging, tourism, or private ownership, and will have no perpetuation of captivity by breeding elephants.
These identifications also adhere to finding ethical sanctuaries for big cats. South Africa has become a hub for big cat exploitation, with over 3,500 live animals and 34,000 body parts exported over the last two decades, and in Southeast Asia, cubs are bred for selfies and then discarded or abused once they grow too large to handle safely. These big cats, such as lions and tigers, are often defanged, declawed, and drugged to remain docile, such as through tranquilisers, sedatives, or even through starvation and dehydration to plummet their energy levels.
Remember that encountering an animal when you’re travelling could potentially be 5 minutes of your day- but for these animals, it’s their entire lifespan
Marine tourism doesn’t fare any better. For example, dolphins used in swim-with experiences are huge magnets for tourists- but they are often captured from the wild, which causes intense trauma, or they are bred in captivity, where they live in tanks within a tiny fraction of their natural range. They often suffer from chronic stress, ulcers, dental damage, and display repetitive behaviours such as pacing and circling, as well as the sound pollution in their tanks damaging their echolocation systems. Marine tourism abuse extends beyond dolphins and into whales, sea turtles, sharks, and stingrays. These animals are harassed, fed, which can disrupt their netural feeding behvaiours and ultimately cause reliance on humans which will then kill them, and overcrowded. Even visiting coral reefs and touching them can kill them, as chemicals in suncream are toxic to the coral even in small amounts.
No matter how educational marine attractions claim to be, activities involving sea animals- such as dolphin shows and sea lion performances- are a huge no-no. Truly ethical marine experiences focus on conservation and respect, offering tourists the chance to witness marine animals in their natural habitat without disrupting their lives. Look for tours that maintain a non-invasive distance from marine animals, avoiding any form of touching, feeding, or chasing. Ethical operators will limit group sizes to reduce stress on wildlife, and adhere to speed and noise regulations to minimise disruption in marine ecosystems.
Remember that encountering an animal when you’re travelling could potentially be 5 minutes of your day- but for these animals, it’s their entire lifespan. They are in those destinations long before you arrive and long after you’re gone, everyday. And this extends all year round, not just for elephants and dolphins in tropical destinations; the same goes for reindeer in places like Lapland for winter holidays, llamas and alpacas in South American festivals, and camels in the deserts.
Animals should be observed with humility, respect, and care. They are not on this planet for our entertainment or to be a spectacle, they live here like we do. Prioritise supporting ethical sanctuaries that take care of their animals, or ask yourself whether seeing these animals bodes any cruciality to you having a good holiday anyway. Because you’ll never be able to convince me that riding on an elephant or holding a sloth was a non-negotiable in making you have a better time on your holiday.