A GLOBAL marine charity, has praised TripAdvisor for its opposition to whale and dolphin captivity after the online travel giant announced yesterday it will stop promoting trips to cruel captivity shows.
The news is a success for Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC)’s End Captivity campaign, which has targeted big travel industry names and challenged them to stop promoting animal cruelty. Both British Airways and Virgin Holidays have recently announced that they will no longer be selling SeaWorld trips to customers.
WDC End Captivity campaigner Cathy Williamson said: “WDC has been talking to TripAdvisor for some time as part of our campaign to stop the tourist industry promoting whale and dolphin shows.
“We have had great success with Virgin Holidays and British Airways stopping such promotions and so we are delighted with this bold and progressive welfare initiative from TripAdvisor. It sends out a clear message to the captive whale and dolphin industry that TripAdvisor will no longer work with any facility that doesn’t commit to phasing out this cruel and outdated practice.”
She described whales and dolphins as “highly intelligent”.
Williamson added: “They can swim up to 100 miles a day, hunting and playing in the wild. In captivity they have very little space and cannot behave naturally. A concrete tank can never replace their ocean home.”
WDC has also previously met with BA representatives to present scientific evidence that these animals are not suited to life in tanks, and presented more than 300,000 public signatures to their petition asking the airline to stop selling the tickets that helped fund the whale and dolphin captivity industry.
The charity hopes these steps will encourage the release of captive whales and dolphins into natural environments around the world and help bring an end to whale and dolphin entertainment.
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