Wildlife & Animal Welfare
Responsible Travel
At Wild Frontiers we believe that responsible tourism includes a deep respect for the welfare of animals. This policy aims to outline our approach for our team at Wild Frontiers, our partners within the countries we work, and educate our travellers through the promotion of tourism that protects the welfare and conservation of animals.
As part of our commitment to ethical and sustainable travel, no encounter on a Wild Frontiers group tour or tailor-made holiday should intentionally or negligently impact the welfare of any wild, rescued, tamed or working animal.
As a guiding principle, we also believe that where possible tourism experiences should contribute towards positive animal welfare, conservation and protection.
We do therefore visit and support:
- Wildlife sanctuaries* that rehabilitate and protect rescued animals
- Programmes that reintroduce native species to their natural habitat
- Conservation programmes for endangered species
- National parks, reserves and conservation areas that protect animals in their natural environment
- Educational experiences that promote conservation and animal welfare
*Genuine sanctuaries provide animals that are injured, confiscated, orphaned or abandoned with temporary or lifetime shelter, care and rehabilitation. Such sanctuaries will not allow public contact or engage the animals in commercial activity, such as riding and bathing. We work closely with our partners in country to help ensure these criteria are met to the best of our and our partners’ knowledge.
When visiting and viewing animals in the wild:
- Viewings should be kept to a reasonable number of visitors
- Viewing wildlife should be kept at a reasonable distance to not distress or inhibit the behaviour of the animals
- Animals should never be charged, chased, cornered or boxed in
- Group viewings should always be accompanied by professional guides and/or rangers who understand the behaviours of the animals
- Do not touch or attempt to attract using sound, food or gestures
- Do not feed
At Wild Frontiers we DO NOT support any of the following:
- Contact, feeding or physical interaction with wild or rescued land or marine animals, including crocodiles, sloths, monkeys, great apes and marine life
- The riding, physical interaction (such as bathing) or performances involving elephants. We do not encourage the feeding of elephants, however we know some sanctuaries do allow guests to prepare food and feed the elephants
- Animal breeding or commercial trade in sanctuaries and orphanages
- The use of animals as entertainment especially those that encourage animals to act outside of normal behaviour such as snake charmers, monkeys on chains or dancing bears
- ‘Walking with’ wild cats, visiting tiger farms or drugging animals to subdue for tourist photo opportunities or entertainment
- Animals being used for fighting, such as cock fighting, bullfighting, dogfighting
- Zoos, including marine parks or performances involving captive marine life, such as dolphins and orcas
- Trophy hunting
- Rodeo events that conduct calf-roping, team-roping, steer wrangling and other activities which are detrimental to the animals’ wellbeing
Working animals
Working animals, including mules, donkeys, yaks, camels and horses, are used on a number of Wild Frontiers group tours and tailor-made holidays. This includes the use of working animals to assist with the transportation of luggage on treks, horse-riding, and camel treks.
- Working animals should carry loads, and people, appropriate to their size, age and ability. All equipment should fit properly, and animals should have access to food, water, rest and shade
- All the nutritional, environmental, social, physical and mental needs of the animals should be met, including tethering or hobbling kept to a minimum and allow the animals to lie, stand and access food as needed
- Young animals, elderly, injured, distressed or in late pregnancy should not be ridden or required to carry loads
- Regular welfare checks should be made looking for signs of injury or illness. Handlers should also be aware of any safety risks for both humans and animals
Auditing Animal Experiences
We work with partners, who share our ethos and ethics, to audit animal experiences in line with our policy. We also ask members of the Wild Frontiers team, when travelling on familiarisation trips, to report back on animal related experiences – both good practices and anything of concern – in line with our animal welfare policy.
To our knowledge all animal experiences on Wild Frontiers group tours and tailor-made holidays are operated in line with this policy.
Should you have any concerns about the content of this policy, or any experiences included in a Wild Frontiers group tour or tailor-made holiday, please email info@wildfrontiers.co.uk
If we are made aware of an animal experience that is not in line with our ethos, as a general approach we will first try to work with local partners on implementing better practice rather than simply ceasing to visit the project or sanctuary, as we are aware that tourism money contributes to the upkeep and feeding of already vulnerable animals.
This is an evolving policy document – Version 2, Created October 2025
Supporting TOFTigers
We support TOFTigers, a travel trade non-profit and sustainability organisation, with its global campaign to protect tigers, wildlife and wilderness in the Indian subcontinent and benefit rural communities through sustainable nature tourism.
TOFTigers operate a global supply chain campaign involving more than 180 companies to ensure sustainable policies and practices. Their pioneering PUG eco-rating scheme now covers more than 60 wildlife lodges in 20 parks in India and Nepal with plans to extend much more widely. They also support a network of Village Wildlife Guardians, run Wildlife Tourism Awards, publish the Good Wildlife Travel Guide, and promote conservation, nature education and responsible tourism in wildlife reserves.
Gorilla Conservation
On behalf of every client that visits the Democratic Republic of Congo with us, Wild Frontiers makes a donation to The Pole Pole Foundation, a Congolese-led community conservation organisation working to protect the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorillas and their habitat in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
The foundation was set up by esteemed conservationist and philanthropist, John Kahekwa, to work with the communities living around the national park to help protect the gorillas through education, tree planting and anti-poaching programmes.
The Wild Frontiers Foundation has also funded a major a community education and conservation project in conjunction with The Pole Pole Foundation, which has given over 230 local people the opportunity to visit the gorillas they are learning to protect. Read more on our blog.
