Animal-friendly travel tips

If you can ride, hug, or have a selfie with the wild animal, the chances are it’s a cruel venue. Don’t go.

Seeing exotic animals when you're travelling can be an exciting experience. But please be cautious not to support attractions that exploit wild animals for tourist entertainment.

Our tips:

  • DON’T take selfies with wild animals. DO take lots of photos of wildlife from a respectful distance.
  • DON’T watch wild animals perform tricks. DO see humans perform tricks in animal-free circuses.
  • DON’T ride an elephant. DO observe elephants at a sanctuary, on a web cam or in the wild.
  • DON’T swim with dolphins. DO see dolphins in the wild with a responsible tour operator.
  • DON’T hold wild animals. DO watch them behaving naturally in the wild or in a sanctuary.

How do you know if an attraction or activity can harm an animal?

World Animal Protection uses the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare as our test to see if an animal’s basic needs are being met:

  1. Freedom from hunger and thirst
  2. Freedom from discomfort
  3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease
  4. Freedom to express normal behaviour
  5. Freedom from fear and distress

Join the movement to protect wild animals

Wild elephants

Pledge your support to be an animal-friendly tourist when you travel. You can protect these animals by reducing the demand for wild animals in entertainment in the countries where you are on holiday.

As a thank you for taking our pledge, we'll send you a link to download our animal-friendly pocket travel guide, including this checklist. You can print the guide or save it to your phone or any device, so you'll have it handy on your next trip.

Pledge now: Join the movement to protect wild animals and get our animal-friendly travel guide.

Join the movement

Join the movement to help protect animals today.

By working together, we can help end the suffering of wild animals in the name of tourist entertainment for good.

We protect wildlife from abuse in tourism

Sloth
Bears at Zarnesti bear sanctuary
Wildlife. Not Entertainers campaign

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