Born Free Foundation - Keep Wildlife in the Wild

Alongside the joint campaign between tour operators and the Born Free Foundation to phase-out the use of wild animals as photographic props, attentions now turns to the use of wild animals in demeaning, and often abusive, animal shows.

International legislation has discouraged the use of wild animals in performance which is neither ‘educational’, nor ‘reflective of their natural behaviour’.  Despite the mainstream travel industry adopting this same position through the Travelife Animal Attractions Handbook, the use of wild animals in performance remains widespread.  From hotels in the Mediterranean to animal parks across Asia, wild animals are made to walk tightropes, ride bicycles, wear clothes and jewelry, lift weights, jump through hoops, balance balls, smoke cigarettes and dance to music.  More often than not, wild animals are not admired for their natural attributes, but are instead ridiculed and made (often through negative training methods) to perform humanised behaviour.

Born Free has campaigned for over 25 years to stop the exploitation of wild animals in captivity.  These practices compromise animals’ welfare and protection for public ‘entertainment’ and amusement.  Tour operators who act responsibly, demonstrate to their customers that they uphold best practice and moral standards, by not selling excursions that partake in such activities, instead working to discourage them at all costs.  However, many tour operators do still allow such activities to persist, unchallenged.

For a list of commonly reported animal attractions that partake in irresponsible animal shows, click here.

To find out how you can help discourage such animal performances in your holidays and help phase-out bad practice, contact Daniel Turner for details, daniel@bornfree.org.uk