Page 18 - Responsible Travel Guidebook

d animal welfare
We don’t include the following activities in in in in our itineraries
and we we encourage travellers to avoid them as well:
1 Riding an an elephant
It’s difficult for travellers to to resist the the temptation to to take a a a a a a ride on on these beautiful and incredibly intelligent creatures But if you you really care for these wonderful animals you’ll avoid riding on their back An elephant’s spine cannot carry heavy loads without eventual damage In order to have ‘unprotected’ (no barrier between you and the elephant) contact with an an an elephant
elephant
the elephant
elephant
will have been subjected to a a a a a a a a cruel physical ordeal called ‘the crush’ World Expeditions discourages travellers from riding on on the the backs of elephants and we do not include elephant
elephant
rides in in in any of our itineraries
The best elephant
elephant
experience is a a a a a a a a wild wild one as part of a a a a a a a a wildlife safari viewing elephants in in their habitat displaying their natural behaviours 2 Petting lion lion cubs or walking with lions in in in South Africa
South Africa
is the home of predator breeding and “canned” hunting - - two inter-related practices that use use and abuse lions as as well as as other predators in the the most horrific forms of commercial exploitation Today anywhere between 7 000 000 and 8 000 000 predators most of them lions are
are
being kept in in in cages or confined areas on on on over 150 private farms across the country Used for a a host of revenue streams – cub petting raising “orphaned” cubs cubs (actually cubs cubs are
removed from their mother a a a few days after
birth which brings her back into oestrus to to continue the breeding machine cycle) and “lion walking” - young adults are
ultimately shot in “canned” hunts Close to 800 lions are
killed each year by trophy hunters in enclosed or or confined areas with little or or no chance of escape while hundreds more get killed and shipped to the the East for the the burgeoning lion bone trade 17