Animal Welfare
Travel is about being responsible and choosing to respect and enjoy local cultures, nature, wildlife, and their environment. Travel Department as a company recognise that animals and their environment need to be respected and treated well and that this can be part of the travel experience, in a responsible, and ethical way.
When we create a tour, we take into consideration that we can’t control everything. There are a lot of animal interactions around the world which do not sit well with us in the countries we visit; exotic species posing for photos, animals forced to put on a show for our entertainment, being treated cruelly or ending up on the local menu.
What we at Travel Department can focus on is choosing the most ethical and responsible partners, discourage our Travel Department customers from partaking in any activities that exploit wild or domestic animals. We as a company believe wild animals should be viewed and admired from a distance without any interaction or disruption. We do not encourage the participation of watching animals perform, being used as props for photos or visiting places where animals are kept for commercial gain.
Travel Department is committed to:
- Respecting all animals and their environment
- Enjoying wild animals in the wild, with no interaction
- Domestic animals must have a good life, they should be provided with an environment and conditions that prevent suffering and enables positive experiences.
- Work only with partners who align with our principles.
Wild Animals Guidelines
We work hand and hand with our agents on the ground to design an experience where our customers can enjoy the environment safely, while respecting the welfare of animals and for that reason, we created the following guidelines:
- A photo doesn’t justify putting yourself at risk or the animal being exploited. If the animal is not free and wild or if they don’t have a choice, don’t take that photo! We encourage you to appreciate wildlife as they are, free and take photos from a distance. Don’t be charmed by the snake charmer!
- While animals look cute and cuddly, they can often get sick with human illnesses. We persuade you not to touch them or pick them up.
- Animals have very specific diets; we recommend you don’t feed them, or you could make them sick.
- We discourage the purchasing of wild animal products such as ivory, furs, snake skins or tortoise shells.
- We do not encourage visiting captive wild animals for commercial gain.
- We also advise you not to taste dishes that come from exotic endangered animals, such as shark fin, whale meat and turtle meat etc
You can make a difference by acting responsible and doing your part.
Put animal welfare first and avoid photo opportunities, animal handling interactions, riding animals, and buying animal products.
Domestic animals:
- We advise you not to use animals that are neglected and malnourished.
- Go to our guides to request information about any activity which involves animals that you may want to join in your own time. They are the best references that you can have on the ground.
- If you observe animal abuse from our agents, do not hesitate to inform us.
We can make the difference; we can be the last generation to use animal suffering as an entertainment.
