03 Rethinking Wildlife Tourism With Katheryn Wise

Jul 3, 2024

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Demand for responsible holidays is rising, but animal welfare remains a missing piece. Today, an estimated 550,000 wild animals are being exploited to entertain holidaymakers.

Join me and Katheryn Wise, UK campaign manager at World Animal Protection - a global voice for animals, respected for their knowledge and expertise for more than 70 years. This is part 1 in which we focus in on marine wildlife.

What you'll learn in this episode:

Which GIANT household travel brand is still failing wildlife
Why captivity is bad for both dolphins and the tourists that visit the venues
Where Europe's largest dolphin prison is and why it still exists
The challenges and the solutions to creating positive change

5 Need To Knows:

1) TUI Group profits by selling park tickets to an astonishing 25 dolphin entertainment venues. These venues hold captive 400 dolphins.

2) The world has long been moving away from keeping intelligent, sensitive cetaceans in captivity. Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, and Croatia have all banned the practice of keeping cetaceans in captivity.

3) The majority of visitors are unaware that their money is paying towards animal cruelty. Tourists who go to marine parks like Sea world, Miami SeaAquarium, Loro Parque go as part of their packaged holidays.

4) Spain is Europe’s largest dolphin prison. Many of the parks continue to allow visitors to swim with the marine wildlife, putting on entertainment shows where dolphins are forced to perform circus-like tricks. Loro Parque holds 8 dolphins and 4 orcas in a concrete chlorine tank which is smaller in size than their car park.

5) Many large cruise companies are actively supporting an industry that exploits dolphins. Princess cruises is an example of one which is profiting greatly from it. Their swim-with-dolphins (SWD) programs place extraordinary amounts of stress on these intelligent animals, who may be forced to interact with over 50 tourists a day.

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