Blood Lions Press Release: 01 November, 2019
Yesterday, 31 October, the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) launched their Animal Interaction Guidelines following a 12-month study into Animal Interactions in the tourism industry and the impact that these experiences have had on the image of South Africa.
SATSA believes that visitors to Southern Africa can still connect with the wilderness, where nature and ecosystems can be enjoyed in their original and natural state. They took this opportunity to find a “home-grown” approach to the growing presence of captive animal attractions in the tourism industry in a time of rising global disapproval of these exploitative practices.
“South Africa in the past has been known for its good ‘best-practice’ principles in conservation and [the animal interaction] industry is definitely tarnishing that,” said Keira Powers, SATSA Animal Interaction Committee Chairperson at Conservation Lab 2019.
Blood Lions Official Statement:
“Blood Lions commends SATSA on their thorough and comprehensive study of wildlife interactive tourism in South Africa. They have drawn a very clear ‘line in the sand’ as to what is not acceptable in terms of human activities with wildlife. This includes cub petting; walking with lions; training of animals to ‘perform’ or behave unnaturally; attractions which cause animals fear or discomfort; and activities that put animals or humans in any kind of danger.
What also stands out in their guidelines is that our current “understanding of animal sentience and knowledge of animal behaviour has advanced significantly over time.” This has enabled a greater understanding of how the misuse of animals is detrimental to the animals’ welfare, and damages the respect that humans have for these animals.
SATSA has developed a comprehensive Tool to assist the international travel industry, visitors and volunteers to make ethical and morally informed decisions around which types of tourism facilities they should or should not support in Southern Africa.
We appreciate that SATSA does not have the directive to regulate or legislate this industry, but they have now ‘set the stage’ to position Brand South Africa positively, and clearly expect the authorities (such as SA Tourism, TBCSA and NDT as well as environmental and agricultural departments) to rise to the challenge and stand united in taking these guidelines forward.”
Click here to view the full Guide by SATSA:
Evaluating Captive Wildlife Attractions & Activities
Click here to view the Statement from ‘The Coalition to Stop Captive Breeding and Keeping of Lions and other Big Cats for Commercial Purposes’ (The Coalition):
SATSA releases a solid set of home-grown captive wildlife interaction guidelines