Animal Welfare

Animal welfare is of utmost importance to us. To ensure the appropriate care of animals under human control, we rely on universally recognized pillars – the Five Domains. These domains include;
– Nutrition: The provision of clean water and sufficient, balanced food – thus guaranteeing adequate nutrition.
-Environment: In addition, animals’ physical comfort is safeguarded through factors such as air quality, temperature, predictability, and substrate.
– Health: To maintain good health, we prioritize regular exercise and grooming, as well as avoiding disease and injury.
– Behavior: Our approach also incorporates behavioral factors such as exploration, foraging, socializing, and playing.
– Mental State: By promoting positive situations in these domains, we strive to reduce negative states like frustration, pain, or boredom.

While we understand that captivity can compromise the welfare of wild animals, we believe it is acceptable only if optimal standards of care in the best interests of each animal are met.

Based on data from extensive research projects such as with World Animal Protection, and the fact that elephants are wild animals – and are NOT domesticated, no matter how many pachyderms you might see on YouTube painting pictures, kicking balls and playing the piano (again, this is really a thing), it was found that Elephants that are used by tour operators are captive; they are often restrained and subjected to cruel and painful ‘breaking’ processes. With that in mind, we chose not to be one of those tour operators and instead advocate for the protection of our wildlife. You can read more about elephant welfare and our policy here. 

At Avella Sights, we’re all for zero contact, zero interaction experiences with wildlife. Wild animals should be viewed in the wild, right? Observe nature as it occurs naturally, not by how it responds to your presence. Don’t call out to animals, whistle or try to get their attention – noise disturbs them and stresses them out – just let them do their thing. Drivers and guides must never use their vehicles to get an animal to move, or drive off-road to get closer to the action.

In some parts of the world, you may meet locals who have taken animals from the wild so tourists can pay to have their photos taken with them. We advise our TrAvellas NOT to participate in this activity – it’s not known how these animals are treated. Are they drugged? Are they fed properly? Are they kept in inadequate conditions? Bottom line, unless it’s a purring cat or a waggy-tailed dog, walk away – the profile pic isn’t worth it.

We also discourage people from visiting venues that offer animal shows, ‘selfie’ opportunities or direct interaction with wild animals. The animals involved in these activities are sometimes taken from the wild, bred in intensive conditions, taken prematurely from their mothers as babies, and submitted to cruel physical and psychological conditioning to make them compliant and perform on cue. Visiting these venues perpetuates a cycle of animal cruelty.

Along with exotic fruits, brightly coloured ponchos and cheap trinkets, many markets around the world sell wild animal products – skins, horns, butterflies, turtle shell, ivory and more. This is an illegal trade, and we firmly discourage all TrAvellas from making these purchases. The animals used to produce these products generally suffer significantly.

This also extends to food products, such as Turtle Soup, Shark Fin Soup and Snake Whiskey. We also advise against TrAvellas purchasing ‘medicinal’ products made from wild animal derivatives, such as bear bile, tiger wine and lion bone wine, which also fuels wildlife farming and perpetuates the illegal wildlife trade.