This post is mainly directed to those of us in the Western world who have the good fortune to be able to fly to distant corners of the globe to experience the unique sights, tastes and sounds of those places.

Collectively, we exercise a great deal of power with the tourism dollars we spend.  I believe that we should use this power responsibly.  We can have a very real impact on the welfare of various species in the places we travel to.  We need to be alert to the fact that standards vary considerably from one place to another.  It is incumbent upon us to demonstrate ‘situational awareness’ and to be careful to not unwittingly place ourselves into situations where we are contributing to real harm.

Usually unintentionally.  Though sometimes through ‘willful blindness’.

Some things are fairly obvious – buying a ticket to a dolphin show, swimming with dolphins.  Viewing a bullfighting event.  The abuse is fairly obvious and hard to miss.  Others will be more subtle.  Did you know that popular elephant rides are made possible when young elephants are taken from their mothers and made submissive through a brutal process known as ‘the crush’?  This is another word for physical abuse with clubs, bull hooks and restraint with ropes and chains.  

Did you know that tigers used to produce tourist selfies are kept docile using pain and fear to constrain aggressive (albeit natural for a tiger) behavior, and cubs are typically mishandled hundreds of times per day, leading to stress and frequent injury?  That the tigers are typically kept in small, barren, concrete enclosures?  Same goes for the dancing bear.  

Have you ever considered what life might be like for a donkey hauling tourists up a hillside all day, under the hot sun of Greece?  Some jurisdictions have started to impose weight limits on the tourists.  I suppose that’s a start.

When travelling to many places in warmer climates, even if you have absolutely no intention of buying a ticket to a dolphin show, does the hotel you’re staying at have captive dolphins?  (Some years ago I stayed at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.  Not my finest moment.  Now I know to be much more careful.)  With a quick Google search you can be sure.

Many of us will purchase tour packages in the cities we visit, and sometimes we can be surprised by what’s included in the package.  Over the last few years, many of the big travel companies have announced they’ll no longer sell tickets to the types of attractions we’re concerned about here.  But I’ve found that you still have to be careful, as local tour operators will sometimes have an ‘optional’ stop at a captive facility, and I’m still left to wonder if any part of the tour’s purchase price finds its way to the captive facility as part of the operator’s arrangements with them.  Even if you opt out.  

And finally, if you decide to participate in a whale or dolphin watching excursion / boat cruise, which I encourage as a far superior alternative to captive dolphin shows, be aware that different standards are the norm in different places.  If you aren’t careful, you may unwittingly be providing the financial support for activities which create risks to cetaceans.

Excursions in Canada (my home country) have to abide by strict rules regarding how close they can get to the whales, and if the whales choose to swim closer to you (which they often do) that’s fine, but the law wisely prohibits operators pursuing them, or even getting too close.  Not so in South Africa, where the boats operated in a manner that was risky to the pods we’d witnessed.  Further, the whole ethos of the experience was very different.  North American operators typically provide an impressive wealth of information on the ecology of the area and the needs of the cetaceans we hope to be viewing.  The SA experience was almost entirely lacking that.

Bottom line – it’s great to enjoy viewing cetaceans in their natural environment but we need to keep the entertainment element in check, and remember that the needs of the whales comes first.

Chris, Canadian Cetacean Alliance