TripAdvisor Will Stop Selling Tickets To Places That Hurt Animals Or Exploit Them For Entertainment

Swimming with dolphins, petting a tiger cub, a ride on a majestic elephant--a part of numerous individuals’ bucket list. Little do tourists realise the traumatic training elephants undergo, or that the tiger that you’re ‘bravely’ posing with is pretty much drugged out into submissiveness or blinded completely. While such animal encounters around the world rake in money by the bundles, we often turn a blind eye to the torture and cruelty that the star attractions have to face.

Activists around the world have long campaigned against the travel industry’s enabling and facilitating of animal cruelty, and recently, travel company TripAdvisor announced a new policy in their ticket sales, doing their bit for the prevention of animal abuse and cruelty for the sake of tourism. As per reports, the company launched a “no touching of wild animals” policy that bans the sale of tickets to places where visitors come into direct contact with captive, wild or endangered animals.

As reported by The Guardian, the policy is set to be fully implemented by 2017, with a few immediate actions being taken as well. Along with the policy update, TripAdvisor is also launching an educational portal and campaign to raise awareness about wildlife conservation and the exploitation of animals, as well as showcasing places that practice wildlife conservation and sustainable living. The travel giant’s move is being celebrated and applauded around the world; Stephanie Shaw of PETA was quoted stating, “We applaud TripAdvisor taking this stance, helping to raise awareness. Elephant training, for example, is brutal and cruel.”

“By refusing to sell tickets to businesses that treat animals as entertainment or playthings, TripAdvisor is making a precendent-setting statement about the use and abuse of animals for entertainment,” Tracy Reiman, Executive Vice President of PETA, stated in a release. Only time will tell whether this was purely a PR ploy or a genuine stand against animal tourism, we only hope that TripAdvisor’s move will influence other big company’s around to world to rise up against the exploitation of animals and nature as well.

Click here to read the complete report by The Guardian. 

 Representational feature image via The Conversation