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SPEAK UP, FIGHT BACK!

Every day IMATA members like you dedicate yourselves to the marine animals in our care. We provide the highest quality care, habitat, training, interactive programs, education and other factors vital to their welfare. Today, we are asking for your help in sharing your thoughts on the recent decision by TripAdvisor to end the sales of tourism programs that involve cetaceans in some zoos and aquariums.

It’s sad and unfortunate to see TripAdvisors use its brand and resources to attack world-class, accredited aquariums and marine parks and undermine their work to educate the public about marine mammals, study them, and conserve them in the wild. The company could have made a real difference for whale and dolphin conservation by supporting that work and spearheading new efforts to help imperiled animals in the wild but instead chose to try to appease animal rights extremists by severing its long-standing partnerships with zoological facilities that display cetaceans and supporting the creation of ill-conceived “sea sanctuaries.”

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Use the tool below to send a pre-written message to TripAdvisor (or use our message as a sample to craft your own email). Whichever option you choose, please do not forget to sign your email. IMATA members are the experts in the field of marine mammal care and training. That said, TripAdvisor should hear from people like you who believe that our colleagues take wonderful care of their animals and that their pandering to animal rights extremists is a missed opportunity to support work that is helping marine conservation.

We have made it easy for you to submit a personal message to TripAdvisor - choose an option below:

OPTION 1: Write Your Own Comment	OPTION 2: Submit a Pre-Prepared Comment - RECOMMENDED
	–OR– If your mail system is having trouble including the comment, please try copying the text (below) and pasting it into an email addressed to skaufer@tripadvisor.com. _{*If you're using Safari, an iPhone or iPad you will need to manually copy the Pre-Prepared Comment below and send to: skaufer@tripadvisor.com} Dear Mr. Kaufer, It was with great disappointment that the members of the International Marine Animal Trainers’ Association (IMATA) read TripAdvisor’s declaration regarding its policy to no longer support accredited zoos and aquariums that care for dolphins and whales. It causes me great concern as I believe you have been misled as to the value of these programs and more importantly the successes of them. Peer reviewed science is invaluable as it eliminates the subjective and often emotional views held by the inexperienced. One such paper by Jaakkola and Willis (2019) clearly demonstrates the longevity of species in human care, concluding animals live as long or longer in accredited facilities than those in wild populations. The continual degradation of the marine ecosystem means we must be that much more aggressive as it pertains to studying wild populations; the impact of not having sustainable populations in human care to aid in this conservation effort is significant. Put simply, your new policy weakens dolphin conservation. As an animal care expert, I find it puzzling that TripAdvisor sees a difference in accredited zoological facilities and the “seaside sanctuary.” There are several reputable programs your organization has praised that care for dolphins in lagoons, sea pens, and themed exhibits. The design of a sanctuary has already been achieved; so it perplexes me that extremists can convince you that a netted bay or estuary is any safer or derives better welfare. In fact, it has been proven many times that animals born in zoological settings have difficulties with transfers to marine settings. So what then? Please consider the data offered in Proie’s (2013) work that details the cortisol levels in cetaceans both in the wild and in human care. Likewise, please give thought to the effects of the inhumane practice of eliminating reproduction and rearing of offspring for animals that spend a significant part of their lives doing so. I would hope that TripAdvisor would take the position that animal experiences are an important part of inspiring the public to care about wildlife, and that accredited zoos and aquariums insure animal welfare is the primary mission. In this day and age, it is easy to adopt marketing strategies to capture market shares, but it is nearly impossible to recover from poor conservation policies promoted in the marketplace. Please consider an audience with the true animal experts, and not those supporting an extremist and narrow agenda. Sincerely,

OPTION 1: Write Your Own Comment

OPTION 2: Submit a Pre-Prepared Comment - RECOMMENDED

–OR–

If your mail system is having trouble including the comment, please try copying the text (below) and pasting it into an email addressed to skaufer@tripadvisor.com.

_{*If you're using Safari, an iPhone or iPad you will need to manually copy

the Pre-Prepared Comment below and send to: skaufer@tripadvisor.com}

Dear Mr. Kaufer,

It was with great disappointment that the members of the International Marine Animal Trainers’ Association (IMATA) read TripAdvisor’s declaration regarding its policy to no longer support accredited zoos and aquariums that care for dolphins and whales. It causes me great concern as I believe you have been misled as to the value of these programs and more importantly the successes of them. Peer reviewed science is invaluable as it eliminates the subjective and often emotional views held by the inexperienced. One such paper by Jaakkola and Willis (2019) clearly demonstrates the longevity of species in human care, concluding animals live as long or longer in accredited facilities than those in wild populations. The continual degradation of the marine ecosystem means we must be that much more aggressive as it pertains to studying wild populations; the impact of not having sustainable populations in human care to aid in this conservation effort is significant. Put simply, your new policy weakens dolphin conservation. As an animal care expert, I find it puzzling that TripAdvisor sees a difference in accredited zoological facilities and the “seaside sanctuary.” There are several reputable programs your organization has praised that care for dolphins in lagoons, sea pens, and themed exhibits. The design of a sanctuary has already been achieved; so it perplexes me that extremists can convince you that a netted bay or estuary is any safer or derives better welfare. In fact, it has been proven many times that animals born in zoological settings have difficulties with transfers to marine settings. So what then? Please consider the data offered in Proie’s (2013) work that details the cortisol levels in cetaceans both in the wild and in human care. Likewise, please give thought to the effects of the inhumane practice of eliminating reproduction and rearing of offspring for animals that spend a significant part of their lives doing so. I would hope that TripAdvisor would take the position that animal experiences are an important part of inspiring the public to care about wildlife, and that accredited zoos and aquariums insure animal welfare is the primary mission. In this day and age, it is easy to adopt marketing strategies to capture market shares, but it is nearly impossible to recover from poor conservation policies promoted in the marketplace. Please consider an audience with the true animal experts, and not those supporting an extremist and narrow agenda.

Sincerely,

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