How do you gauge if an animal activity meets EF’s standards?
We rely on World Animal Protection’s philosophy of the Five Freedoms:
5. Freedom to express normal behavior
With these five core tenets in mind, we work with World Animal Protection to carefully assess whether activities fall within an animal’s normal behavioral patterns and if the facilities where the animals live offer appropriate food, clean water, adequate shelter and weather protection, veterinary care, and positive relationships with animal handlers.
What other animal-related activities does EF prohibit on tours?
We do not offer activities that include imposing and unnatural interactions with wild animals of any kind—this includes riding, feeding, and swimming with animals, among other things. Our travel experiences celebrate wildlife.
We also always prohibit activities that are blatantly exploitative or abusive, such as hunting and fishing for sport, animal fighting, and making animals pose for photos.
What about activities that are in the gray area, like zoo and aquarium visits?
How do you decide if a venue/supplier is a good partner for EF?
We use the following filters when looking at possible partners: Is this experience truly eye-opening for our travelers? Is the welfare of the animals the top priority of the host or attraction? Does the experience give our travelers unique insights into an important part of the local culture and community?
For example, we support bringing travelers to a koala sanctuary in Australia that focuses on rehabilitation, teaches about how human society results in koalas requiring rehabilitation, and limits human interaction with the koalas before their release back into the wild. We believe this type of experience is valuable and gives meaningful insight into the local destination and culture, all while keeping animal welfare paramount.
Why did you choose World Animal Protection to work with?
World Animal Protection is a non-profit organization and we admire their dedication, research, and reach. We’re excited to collaborate with them and learn from their expertise. In fact, EF and World Animal Protection have a lot in common! We’re both mission-driven organizations with over 50 years of experience, we both take pride in having a local presence on a global scale, and we’re both passionate about educating others in order to make a better world.
The education piece is fundamental to who we are, and we’re excited about the prospect of helping to create more informed global citizens. For example, instead of simply removing activities that don’t meet our animal welfare standards for our travel programs, we’re taking it a step further. By using it as an opportunity to educate people about the issues at hand, we hope to spread knowledge and empathy and make an even larger impact on the world around us.
What steps are you taking to implement these animal welfare guidelines?
EF is committed to training staff about the importance of animal welfare so that we can all do our part to educate travelers and partners about these issues as well.
Why don't all tour companies do this?
As more and more travelers seek out immersive wildlife experiences, it’s easy to find travel partners willing to get them up-close to animals—but at very harmful costs to those animals. Without knowledge of the ins and outs of the industry, travelers don’t understand the mistreatment these entertainment activities frequently entail. Long story short: Other tour companies provide these types of activities because there is a demand for them and they are profitable. At EF, we champion animal welfare on any tour, in any destination.