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ANIMAL WELFARE POLICY
Wildlife experiences in our industry
Contiki’s partnership with World Animal Protection, and our first Animal Welfare Policy, both launched in 2014. That year, Contiki joined more than 100 travel companies in signing World Animal Protection’s Elephant-Friendly Tourism Pledge and stopped the sale of experiences that involved elephant rides or shows. Since then, we’ve worked in partnership with World Animal Protection, the WTTC, Blood Lions and, most recently, End Wildlife Crime to address behavioral and systematic change in our industry.
Ethical wildlife experiences
Contiki, in partnership with TreadRight, supports World Animal Protection’s goal of changing supplier behaviour within the industry through the Coalition for Ethical Wildlife Tourism, established to demonstrate consumer demand for ethical wildlife experiences. Together with our travel partners, we provide training on animal welfare and undertake annual audits of all experiences including wild or domestic animals by Contiki. See how else we support wildlife through our TreadRight Wildlife projects.
Wildlife experiences on our trips
Contiki endeavours to take our travellers to see animals in the wild. But there are instances on our trips when you may visit animals in sanctuaries or rehabilitation centres. We know – it’s not always easy to tell whether an animal sanctuary or rehabilitation centre is ethical or not. That’s why our team considers the purpose of the facility, where the animals came from, animal behaviour, facility credentials and policies regarding breeding – to ensure abandoned, sick, or injured animals are being well taken care of by the facility.
Our team takes wildlife protection seriously, and to help ensure the wildlife experiences offered by Contiki meet our high standards, we updated our Animal Welfare Policy. Our latest policy is supported by internal training of our teams to ensure compliance across all animal encounters by the close of 2021.
In cooperation with our partner World Animal Protection and with guidance from globally recognised animal welfare criteria, the Five Domains of Animal Welfare, we are pleased to encourage and support a travel industry free of animal cruelty.
5 domains of animal welfare
The Five Domains of Animal Welfare are a globally-recognised criteria with a focus on the mental state of the animal. They replace the previously standardised ‘Five Freedoms’, and recognise the sentient nature of animals.
The do's & don't of animal encounters
What you should do while travelling
- Maintain a respectful distance from wild animals and create minimal noise
- Research the venues you want to visit to learn about their own animal welfare practices
- Educate yourself on the criteria sanctuaries, zoos and private reserves should be meeting to be able to spot red flags
- Speak up if you see or think that animals are not being treated well. Ask questions or choose not to participate in the activity. If you have an experience like this on a Contiki trip email animalwelfare@treadright.org and Contiki’s TreadRight team will immediately investigate
- Take our Pledge and make travel matter for our planet, for people and for wildlife
What you should not do while travelling
- Touch, feed, chase, ride, or harass wild animals
- Take a wildlife selfie if the animal is being held, hugged or restrained
- Purchase wildlife souvenirs such as ivory
- Operate drones near or above wildlife, creating a noise disturbance
- Post pictures of endangered animals or species to social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook while using the Geotag feature to reveal your location. Poachers are now using unsuspecting tourists to hunt their prey
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