As more and more tourists desire contact with animals during their travels, animal tourism is a rapidly growing sector of the industry. While animals can fulfill many roles in tourism (see this blog post), the most common is that of attraction. Whether it’s something directly hands-on such as feeding a giraffe at a zoo, going on a guided trail ride, or visiting a cat cafe…or something more remote like whale watching or viewing animals on safari, increased management and contact with humans can threaten animals’ well-being.
So what should you do if you come across an animal tourism activity that endangers animals’ welfare? Raise the red flag!
What is Raise the Red Flag?
Raise the Red Flag is an initiative by the Born Free Foundation which allows tourists to voice their animal welfare concerns. No matter where in the world the activity takes place, you can report questionable practices involving captive animals that you witness during your travels…and even provide photo documentation if you have some.
What happens when you report a location?
If there is enough evidence to support concerns regarding animal welfare, the locations are flagged on Born Free’s website and information regarding the concerns made public for other travellers to access. Certain situations have also been further investigated by Born Free who activate advocates for the welfare of the animals involved. You can read about their findings, view the images taken during investigations, and see updates on what is being done on Born Free’s website.
Other Resources
On their Raise the Red Flag website, Born Free offers other helpful resources including information on what types of things to look out for when evaluating animal welfare in the tourism industry and success stories of their efforts.
