Please read this article and think before you purchase souvenirs from your next trip.
The Hidden Cost of Wildlife Souvenirs
You’re having the best vacation of your life – so it’s only natural that you want to bring home souvenirs. But if you’re not careful, you might be putting your idyllic vacation spot in danger. Unfortunately, far too many souvenirs are made from protected species of native wildlife, and purchasing them undermines the conservation efforts of local governments. Worse still, methods for catching and killing wildlife are often cruel, inhumane and life-threatening for game wardens who try to protect these animals from poachers.
Compassionate Travel
Our international partner, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has launched a new website, CompassionateTravel.org, which educates travelers on how to make their vacations cruelty-free. The website provides a list of dos and don’ts for animal-friendly travel along with a wealth of information, brochures, videos and specific actions you can take to end animal cruelty. Here are a few examples of souvenirs to avoid on your next vacation:
Traditional Asian Medicines
Some of the products contain parts of endangered wild animals. On Asian bear farms, bile is painfully extracted from captive bears in order to create traditional medicines, and some non-traditional items such as shampoos and wines. The use of tiger bone and rhino horn in traditional remedies has left these species critically endangered.
Birds & their Feathers
Wild birds have been illegally poached and trafficked for decades with many species now endangered. Beware of live birds offered for sale as pets as well as mounted birds, feathers, or bird nests as these are often illegal to transport home.
Souvenir Photos with Captive Wildlife
Don’t commemorate your trip by having your picture taken with a chimp, lion cub, bear, or other captive wild animal. They are frequently stolen from the wild as babies and kept in inhumane conditions. Often the mothers are killed for trophies or for bushmeat.
Legal Consequences
Compassionate travelers should always remember – just because an item is for sale, it doesn’t make it legal to buy and bring home. Threatened wildlife is often protected under national laws and under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). If you attempt to bring contraband wildlife souvenirs into the United States, your items could be seized and you could be charged a serious fine. And the cost to the animals is very high – oftentimes they end up paying with their lives.