Thomas Cook has launched a new animal welfare policy after encountering a lack of engagement from some suppliers and poor findings in an audit.
Group chief executive Peter Fankhauser said the group would be taking a ‘much stronger approach’ to ensuring the welfare of animals in the attractions its sells.
"It became clear to me that we needed to act following an independent audit of animal attractions that I asked to be carried out earlier this year," he said in a blog.
He said animal welfare specialists Global Spirit audited a cross section of the attractions sold by the operator against the ABTA Global Welfare Guidance for Animals in Tourism, which is widely regarded the most stretching guidelines in the world.
"Frankly, I was disappointed, not only with the lack of engagement from a number of suppliers, but also the findings of the audit," said Fankhauser.
Under a new policy, if an attraction is found not to be fully compliant with the ABTA Global Welfare Guidance for Animals in Tourism, Thomas Cook won’t sell it.
"We know that for many people, animals in captivity of any form is unacceptable. However, it is a sad truth that many captive animals cannot be safely returned to the wild," he said.
"Tourism has a big role to play in raising standards for those animals during the transition to ending the practice of capturing animals for entertainment, and ending practices that are known to harm animals."
But he said this needs to be an industry issue if it is to be truly successful.
"We are committed to raising the profile of this issue and sharing the audits we do, working directly with ABTA to enforce these guidelines, but also directly with our peers. Only by coming together will we improve standards at all animal attractions."
