Instagranimal: Animal Welfare and Animal Ethics Challenges of Animal-Based Tourism

Abstract

By animal-based tourism, a host of activities offering passive viewing or active interaction with wild, semi-wild or captive animals is included. The multibillion dollar industry is on the rise globally today, offering modes of engagement with animals that trade on increasingly embodied close encounters with non-human animals. As new modes of animal-based tourism proliferate, such as sloth selfies, visiting cat cafes, swimming with sharks and agri-tourism petting zoos, animal welfare standards risk deteriorating. In the following paper, we collate concerns over animal welfare into a discussion on the challenges facing animal-based tourism. Our synthesis is the first to consider the full spectrum of such animal-based tourism: across agri-, hunting, zoo and safari tourism, to name a few, and crossing consumptive and non-consumptive boundaries. A literature review is first provided. Findings are then presented thematically following workshops at an international interdisciplinary symposium of leading tourism, animal welfare, ethics and leisure sciences scholars together with practitioners of the industry. It discusses macrolevel drivers to animal-based tourism as an industry, the problem of cultural relativism and the role of technology in enhancing or promoting the experience. We indicate ways forward toward implementing a compassionate animal-based tourism.

Editorial: Perceptions of Human-Animal Relationships and Their Impacts on Animal Ethics, Law and Research

“…Non-human animals have always been important for human life due to the ecological, cultural and economic roles that they fulfill. However, one cannot work on animal welfare without involving human cultural aspects, making it difficult to impose universal standards of animal wellbeing, animal conservation and animal use (Kletty et al;von Essen et al, 2020). Nevertheless, it is important to consider them as a part of our social and cultural capital rather than as material capital (Bourdieu, 1980;Throsby, 1999;Siisiainen, 2003).…”

Turizm Endüstrisinde Hayvan Kullanımı: Yıkıcı-Yıkıcı Olmayan Temas Temelli Yaklaşım

“…Hayvanların kullanımı üzerine; veterinerlik ve tıp gibi bilim alanlarında deneysel amaçlarla kullanılan hayvanlar açısından hayvan etiği bağlamında büyük tartışmalar yaşanırken (Bennett ve Ringach, 2016;Doke ve Dhawale, 2013;Snyder, Crooks ve Johnston, 2012;Yiğit, Sinmez, Aslım 2015;) gıda sektörüne hizmet eden üretim çiftlikleri boyutu ile hayvan refahı veterinerlik ve ziraat bilimlerinde ağırlıklı incelenmektedir (Dawkins, 2004;Essen, Lindsjö ve Berg, 2020;Fraser, 2009;Hewson, 2003;İzmirli ve Yaşar, 2006;Sandøe ve Christiansen, 2013;). Felsefe ve hukuk bilimlerinde ise hakların, özelde insan ve insan-dışı canlıların haklarının kaynağı, hakların bakılan yer ve bakan tarafından algılanması ve savunulmasındaki farklar gibi ilgili kavramsal boyutlar ortaya konmuştur (Bekoff, 2008;Coeckelbergh ve Gunkel, 2014;Dolmacı ve Bulgan, 2013;Özdağ, 2005;Özgür, 2010;Regan, 2003, Sarıtaş, 2016Singer, 1975;Yaşar ve Yerlikaya, 2004).…”

International Tourism Development in the Context of Increasing Globalization Risks: On the Example of Ukraine’s Integration into the Global Tourism Industry

“…Currently, urban dwellers comprise more than half of Ukraine's population, and it explains a great potential for forming demand for services of rural green tourism and for creating a competitive area for foreign tourists. Kyrylov et al (2020) and Von Essen et al (2020) argue that entrepreneurship in the field of green tourism is a specific type of tourism activity that has a social, environmental, and economic impact on the rural areas' development in the region. Dalevska et al (2019); Kharazishvili et al (2019Kharazishvili et al ( , 2020; and Kwilinski et al (2020) offered a methodology and instruments for economic-mathematical modeling to evaluate the degree of the development of international commercial and investment relationships, the degree of a lifespan, living standards and prosperity of international structures, the development of international tourism under the influence of sources for economic growth.…”