Intrepid Travel ends elephant rides
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Intrepid Travel has become the first global tour operator to stop offering elephant rides as part of its itineraries.
The Melbourne-based adventure travel company ended elephant rides and visits to elephant-based attractions on all of its trips earlier this year, following a three-year research process to assess the welfare of captive elephants in Asia.
The research was conducted by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and concluded that some activities undertaken at elephant attractions cause pain and suffering to the elephants. It also found that the tourism industry has led to an increased number of elephants being poached from the wild.
“Responsible travel has been central to how we’ve run Intrepid for 25 years and as an industry we can do more to help protect wild animals from cruelty,” said Geoff Manchester, Intrepid’s co-founder. “Our focus is on educating people and teaching local communities about animal welfare and environmental conservation. While we once included elephant rides or entertainment venue visits, we’re now working with rehabilitation and sanctuary facilities.
“We hope that the increased patronage to commendable venues like this will help encourage others to lift their standards,” he added.
WSPA’s Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach commented; “Wild animals belong in the wild – not in entertainment. We welcome all progress within the tourism industry towards recognising this fact and taking action to prevent cruelty.
“WSPA urges all tour operators to support animal friendly tourism and to help every customer make animal friendly choices when travelling.”
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