Animal Mistreatment Deters Brits From Holiday Spots
Over half of British tourists say witnessing an animal being mistreated while vacationing abroad would stop them returning to that country again. However, most people who had witnessed an incident of animal abuse while abroad did not report it. The Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA) has released an ethical animal tourism guide, and advises tourists to do their research before engaging in animal-related activities in a foreign country.
In a recent YouGov survey, 52 percent of British tourists claimed that seeing animal mistreatment while on holiday abroad would put them off returning to that country again. Twenty-two percent reported that they had witnessed animal abuse while on holiday in another country. However, 77 percent made no attempt to report the most recent case of mistreatment witnessed.
Most adults (71%) reported that they had seen animal mistreatment in the tourism industry. Additionally, 28 percent had taken part in an animal-related activity where they had felt concern for the welfare of the animal. SPANA encourages tourists who witness animal mistreatment while on holiday to report the abuse. Information about how to do this is available at the SPANA website: www.spana.org/tourism.