Travelsphere Animal Welfare Policy

Our vision is for a world where tourism benefits both animals and people.

We care about animals, and we work with other organisations that share our vision and are working to make it a reality. These include World Animal Protection, The Jane Goodall Institute, The World Cetacean Alliance, and ABTA, who produced the Global Welfare Guidance for Animals in Tourism.

Travelsphere considers the following practices unacceptable and do not offer them as part of our tours:

• Any activity involving captive elephants
• Any activity involving captive whales and/or dolphins
• Any type of hunting or non-sustainable fishing
• Activities involving overt cruelty (such as bear baiting, bull fighting, cockfighting, or ritual animal slaughter)
• Activities involving behaviour that goads or provokes animals (such as bull running or crocodile wrestling)
• Drugging of animals for any non-medical purpose
• Farms with poor welfare standards, where wild animals are bred to create commercial products (e.g. tiger farms, reptile farms, turtle, or civet farms)
• Consumption of animals that are either locally or globally endangered or under threat (e.g. eating/drinking whale meat, puffin, shark, tiger wine, etc.)
• Performances or shows involving wild animals
• Poorly housed animals used as a display, ornament, or attraction at restaurants, casinos, and shops
• Handling, touching or any close contact with any wild animals (e.g. holding or feeding of animals, such as lion/tiger cubs, monkeys, sloths, etc. for selfies, riding of wild animals such as ostriches, petting tigers, or walking with lions.)
• Animals used for soliciting money (snake charming, dancing bears, primates on chains, etc.)

We prefer to take our travellers to see animals in their natural habitats, but in the instances where captive animal experiences are included on our tours (usually in sanctuaries and rescue centres or domestic/working animals), we aim to ensure that these:

• Possess all relevant licenses required
• Are a genuine sanctuary or conservation program
• Keep animals in acceptable conditions, meeting internationally recognized standards of care
• Do not undertake surgery or physical modification of skin, tissues, teeth, or bones of an animal other than for the purposes of genuine medical treatment (e.g. wing pinioning, claw removal, or mouth taping)
• In the case of working animals: that these are in healthy condition, are not overloaded, have adequate water and rest periods and are housed in acceptable conditions when not working

Where travellers view animals in the wild as part of our tours we will work to ensure:

• That travellers keep a safe and respectful distance from wild animals and noise is kept to a minimum
• That deliberate direct contact with, chasing, or harassment of wild animals does not take place
• That no feeding of wild animals takes place (with the exception of wild birds, provided feeding is not detrimental to them)
• That unregulated plant and animal collection, or the sale of endangered wildlife products does not take place
• In marine animal viewing: that our suppliers are made aware of and encouraged to achieve the standards set out in relevant guidelines, such as the World Cetacean Alliance Responsible Whale Watching Guidelines and the WWF Guide to Best Practice in Shark and Ray Tourism

We are keen for Travelsphere travellers to speak out if any breach of this policy is encountered. Let a member of the Travelsphere team know or email customer.care@travelsphere.co.uk. Please make a note of the date, time and location as well as the number and type of animals involved. We have procedures to escalate concerns and will investigate and take action where appropriate.