The document discusses captive wildlife tourism, noting that while it is a massive and growing industry, not all captive wildlife attractions adequately consider animal welfare or conservation. It provides an overview of different types of captive wildlife attractions and their impacts. The document calls for industry guidelines and outlines Fair Trade Tourism's proposed guidelines, which aim to certify facilities that prioritize animal welfare, human safety, conservation benefits, and transparency over those that involve physical interaction with animals or make false conservation claims.

1. The mark of a good holiday
Captive Wildlife Tourism
The good, the bad and the ugly
Presented by Jane Edge
Fair Trade Tourism

2. The mark of a good holiday
Wildlife tourism: massive & growing
The global tourism sector saw 1,3 billion tourists in 2017. This will grow
to 1.8 billion by 2030.
20-40% of tourists want to view wildlife.
18,6 million tourists visited Africa in 2017 alone.
Few tourists will have the opportunity to view wildlife in the wild. Cost
and access preclude them.
For most tourists, their wildlife experience will be captive.
The captive wildlife industry is massive and growing.
It will not go away.

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What is the Issue?
71% of tourists say they want to buy holidays from companies that
care for animals.
Yet
Every year 2-4 million tourists support attractions that aren’t good
for animal welfare or conservation.
80% of tourists can’t see the negative impact a wildlife attraction
has on animal welfare.
There are few regulations governing the sector, and no industry
norms and standards.

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Types of Captive Wildlife Attractions
Oxford University’s Wildcru Research Unit puts captive wildlife attractions into 4 categories:
1. Interactions with captive animals –eg. elephant back riding, encounters with big cats
2. Sanctuaries - whose main purpose is to help and protect wild animals
3. Wildlife farms – eg. commercial crocodile and ostrich farms
4. Performances – eg. snake charming, bear dancing, circuses
But in South Africa captive wildlife attractions are FAR more complicated.
“Captive facilities describe themselves as sanctuaries, farms, parks, breeding centres, educational centres,
rehabilitation centres, orphanages and zoos. There is no common categorisation and the public is unable to
distinguish a commercial enterprise from a genuine conservation breeding facility or sanctuary. This enables some
facilities to elicit funds from visitors who believe they are donating money for conservation while the facility trades in
the animals that tourists are asked to fund.“ Endangered Wildlife Trust

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Captive wildlife in numbers
4 million
Number of annual visitors to SeaWorld San Diego
16,000
Number of elephants in captivity worldwide – versus
450,000 in the wild in Africa.
8,000
Number of lions kept and bred in captivity in
South Africa – double the number of those in the
wild or in managed reserves.
5,000
Number of captive tigers in the US – versus just 3,200
globally in the wild.
1,600
Number of bottlenose dolphins used for entertainment
worldwide.
600
Number of cheetah in captivity in South Africa –
versus 1200 – 1700 cheetah in the wild or
in managed reserves.

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Urgent need for industry guidelines
In developing guidelines around captive wildlife facility,
Fair Trade Tourism has looked at four aspects:
1. Animal welfare - adequate food & water, freedom from
pain & injury, ability to behave normally, level of stress.
2. Human safety
3. Conservation Benefit
4. Transparency
“If you can ride it, hug it, or have a selfie with the wild
animal, the chances are it is a cruel venue. Do not go.”
World Animal Protection Charity

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Best Practice
From a conservation and animal welfare perspective Fair Trade Tourism
considers the following best practice:
Genuine wildlife sanctuaries - where un-releasable animals live out their lives,
there is no breeding or trading, or human-animal contact.
Wildlife rehabilitation centres - where injured or abandoned animals are treated
for release, and where contact is limited to trained personnel or volunteers.

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Fair practice
Fair Trade Tourism would certify the following, subject
to compliance with its overall 230 criteria.
• Captive wildlife facilities where:
 There is no physical interaction with large carnivores,
elephants, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, large primates,
ostriches and venomous snakes.
 There are acceptable animal welfare standards –
subject to Five Freedoms
 There are no false claims with regard to conservation,
breeding or trade.
Examples include:
• Aquariums without major cetaceans
• Zoos with acceptable animal welfare standards
• Bird parks where birds are not tethered or wings clipped
• Ostrich farms with no human-bird contact
Where the humans are captive!
• Shark-cage diving , which is subject to strict
Marine Coastal Management regulations

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Poor practice
FTT views the following as poor practice:
For animal welfare and conservation reasons:
• Performing animals - circuses, dolphin shows,
bullfighting, using wildlife as photographic props,
elephant displays.
• Elephant back riding
• Ostrich riding
• Lion breeding
• Petting baby predators & other wild animals
For human safety reasons:
• Physical interaction with lions, other big cats, elephants,
rhinos, ostriches, big apes.
For transparency, conservation & animal welfare reasons:
• “Sanctuaries” that breed, trade or obtain healthy
animals from the wild.
• Predator breeding centres that
make false conservation claims.
• “Orphanages” where animals are forcibly
removed from their mothers

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Fair Trade Tourism Draft Guidelines
The facility should minimise the risk of human injury.
Does your facility have insurance against liability for
any damage or injury caused by animals?
Yes No
Does your facility have a comprehensive risk assessment in
place, plus policies and procedures to prevent injury to
visitors?
The business should not permit members of the public to
come into contact with species listed as Hazard Category 1
in the Animal Husbandry Tables of the ABTA Animal
Welfare Guidelines, while contact with other species
should be subject to a risk assessment. Prohibited contact
excludes thqt required for veterinary purposes or other
animal welfare needs and activities undertaken for a
verifiable conservation objective.
Does your business permit members of the public to come
into contact with species listed as Hazard Category 1 in the
Animal Husbandry Tables of the ABTA Animal Welfare
Guidelines? (lions, leopards, cheetah, caracal, elephants,
rhinos, hippos, giraffe, great apes and large monkeys,
buffalo, poisonous snakes, pythons, crocodiles, ostriches,
large antelope, zebras, camels)
Yes No N/A
The facility should ensure that animals are not being
encouraged to behave in a way that is not natural and / or
innate to their species.
Are animals required to perform or entertain in a way that is
not consistent with commonly observed natural behaviour?
Eg performing tricks, walking, sitting, lying on demand.
Yes No
Where feeding of animals is allowed, food should be
provided by the business.
Are guests allowed to feed (non-category 1) animals? Yes No
If guests are allowed to feed animals, does the facility
provide the food?
Yes No N/A
Are any of the animals at your facility fed with live
vertebrate prey
Yes No N/A
Unless for veterinary or safety (e.g. rhino dehorning)
reasons, animals should not be drugged or mutilated in any
way, including to make them safe for handling or for use as
photographic props.
Are animals drugged, altered or manipulated in any way to
make them safe for handling, or for use as photographic
props?
Yes No
Do you have a code of conduct around photography with
your animals?
Yes No
Animals at the facility should not have been removed from
parental care prematurely to perpetuate tourism activities.
Are animals at your facility removed from parental care
prematurely? (i.e before they would leave their parents in
the wild?)
Yes No
Are there any activities that involve the public in the direct
care or handling of baby or young animals?
Yes No
Handling of any reptiles should ensure that disease Are guests allowed to handle reptiles? Yes No N/A

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Fair Trade Tourism Draft Guidelines
A facility should not have obtained animals from the
wild, unless for a demonstrable and justifiable
conservation need, sanctioned by a Government
authority.
Has your facility ever obtained animals from the wild? Yes No
If your facility has obtained animals from the wild, do
you have evidence of sanction from a recognised
conservation authority and do you have the necessary
permits?
Yes No N/A
If your facility has obtained animals from the wild, is
this for rehabilitation purposes?
Yes No
A facility should not breed or trade unless this is for
declared conservation objectives, verified by an
independent conservation authority.
Does your facility engage in wildlife trade and / or
breeding?
Yes No
If your facility engages in wildlife breeding or trade, is
this clear in your literature?
Yes No N/A
If your facility engages in wildlife breeding or trade, do
you have the necessary legal permits?
Yes No
If your facility engages in wildlife breeding or trade, is
this supported by an independent, nationally
recognised conservation organisation?
Yes No
A declared sanctuary must not engage in wildlife
trade or breeding activities.
If your facility is called a sanctuary, do you expressly
forbid breeding or trade of animals?
Yes No N/A
The facility should keep an up-to-date record of all
animals in its care, including their history and
destination (or death) certificates.
Does your facility keep an up-to-date registry of all
animals in its care, including their history and
destination (or death certificates) when they move on?
Yes No
The facility should declare whether it is a for-profit or
non-profit business.
Is your facility a for-profit business? Yes No
If you seek donations from the public, do you have a
registered charity?
Yes No N/A
The facility should be clear about its conservation
objectives & achievements.
Does your facility have a visitor education policy or
protocol?
Yes No
Does your facility have a published conservation plan
or policy?
Yes No
Are your facility’s conservation claims verified by a
nationally recognised independent conservation body?
Yes No N/A