WEST Somerset MP Rachel Gilmour has joined a campaign to stop British people going abroad for animal experiences where the creatures are not properly looked after.

A number of leading animal welfare organisations want the Government to stop holding up legislation which will ban the promotion and sale in Britain of ‘cruel and exploitative animal experiences abroad’.

Mrs Gilmour said it actually became law in 2023 with overwhelming cross-party support, yet it was still unimplemented due to a Government failure to introduce the necessary activity regulations specifying which low-welfare practices were covered by the Act.

It left British travel companies free to carry on selling tickets to heartless animal experiences overseas, which in turn financially supported and perpetuated the abuse.

Mrs Gilmour said: “I fully support the Low Welfare Act coalition’s urgent call for this important and overdue legislation to be fully implemented.

“Many of my constituents have emailed me on this topic and the lack of activity from the Government on this legislation.

“Anybody who knows me, knows that I care deeply about animal welfare and want to see animals treated with dignity and respect.

“That is not what is happening in many of the venues being promoted by trusted travel companies.

“If these activities are considered too cruel to take place here, they should not be sold here either.

“The UK has long been a global leader on animal welfare, and it must now honour that reputation by enforcing this Act without further delay.”

Among the activities causing concern are:

  • Elephant riding and bathing experiences which rely on calves being taken from their mothers and subjected to brutal training regimes, including being beaten or stabbed with bull hooks to make them submissive to human control
  • Captive whale and dolphin entertainment venues where the highly-intelligent mammals are forced to spend decades in tiny tanks which fail to meet basic welfare needs when in the wild they would swim in hundreds of square miles of ocean
  • Big cat cub petting where babies are intensively bred and separated from their mothers shortly after birth, often having their teeth and claws painfully removed

A spokesperson for the Low Welfare Act Coalition said: “The tourism industry responds to demand.

“The longer travel companies are allowed to promote these cruel experiences through misleading, glossy advertising, the more animals will be captured or bred to suffer for profit and entertainment.

“More than two years after this legislation was passed, its continued lack of enforcement represents a clear failure to protect animal welfare and to honour commitments made to the public.”

The Low Welfare Act coalition comprises numerous leading animal welfare organisations, including Born Free, Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, Marine Connection, PETA, Save the Asian Elephant (STAE), Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), and World Animal Protection.

They work alongside more than 100 organisations and individuals worldwide dedicated to tackling animal exploitation and abuse.

Collectively, the organisations work all over the world to end the suffering of wild animals exploited for tourist entertainment.