Deborah Meaden urges travel chiefs to blacklist dolphin and whale theme parks

Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden is lobbying travel chiefs to blacklist marine parks that keep dolphins and whales in captivity.

Ms Meaden is urging the travel industry body Abta – formerly the Association of British Travel Agents – to urgently update its animal welfare guidelines and advise members they ought not to sell trips to marine parks.

In a letter, the investor says keeping whales and dolphins in captivity for human entertainment is “abhorrent”.

Marine parks worldwide attract millions of visitors, and the number of whales and dolphins kept in captivity has risen in recent years in response to expanding global tourism. China nearly doubled its ocean theme parks in four years, a 2019 study found.

Hunters in countries such as Japan regularly chase and capture the wild sea mammals to supply marine parks, splitting up families and killing individuals. This can result in early deaths.

In her letter to Mark Tanzer, the Abta chief, Ms Meaden wrote: “The evidence is clear: whales and dolphins, whether wild-born or captive-bred, do not – and cannot – thrive in captivity.

“Just consider the sheer size of an orca. Then consider the vast distance these animals swim in the open ocean – up to 140 miles a day – not just because they can, but because they must, to hunt, socialise, and exercise. It’s impossible to replicate these spaces in captivity.”

In the wild, orcas live in tight-knit family groups that share a sophisticated, unique language and culture, she added. But in captivity, they are housed with others from different social groups which, in nature, they would never normally encounter.

“The stress of being placed in these incompatible groups is compounded by the fact that the animals cannot escape one another in cramped marine park tanks,” Ms Meaden wrote.

“I hope you’ll agree that the more we learn about these complex and highly intelligent animals, the more abhorrent their captivity for human entertainment looks.”

Calling for Abta to take a stand, she warned: “Until you do, travel providers like Tui will continue to use your inadequate guidelines to profit off animals’ misery.”

Under the organisation’s current guidelines, practices it deems “unacceptable” include those with “performances or tourist interactions involving wild animals where training involves punishment or food deprivation, causes the animal fear, injury or distress, or the tasks are not based on normal behaviour”.

Ms Meaden, who wrote the letter at the request of animal rights group Peta, welcomed Abta’s decision in 2019 to list direct contact between elephants and tourists as “unacceptable” but said the guidelines on marine animals fell short, and that cetaceans should also fall into this category.

UK tourists can still buy tickets to marine parks in Spain, France, Turkey, Miami and Orlando, among other destinations.

Companies that have stopped promoting the SeaWorld brand of parks include Your Co-op Travel, British Airways Holidays,  STA Travel and Premier Holidays.

TripAdvisor and Virgin Holidays have already stopped selling tickets to all attractions which use captive whales or dolphins.

In response, Abta directed The Independent to its blog, where it wrote: “We have been working with a range of stakeholders including animal welfare experts, to provide industry guidance to drive improvements in animals’ living conditions and treatment.

“Abta’s guidelines are voluntary and it is for travel businesses and suppliers to use the guidelines to drive up standards at attractions and to inform their own animal welfare policies, including their commercial decisions on the activities they do and don’t sell.”

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The association said that after a review of its animal welfare guidelines in 2019, it withdrew its 2013 manual on dolphins because “opinion was split on what the evidence says about being able to manage the welfare needs of dolphins in captivity”.

It says its manual for aquatic mammals is still under review, and meanwhile it is signposting members to a range of evidence, including arguments from World Animal Protection and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.

A Tui spokeswoman told The Independent: “We have strict policies in place regarding animal welfare and are committed to making sure the venues we offer uphold Abta’s latest information and guidance, as well global animal-welfare standards through an extensive and independent animal-welfare audit programme.”