The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) recognises sharks and rays as “key indicator species” that speak to coral reef health and wider biodiversity. By inviting guests and diving enthusiasts in the region to monitor the species’ numbers in a census, PADI is contributing to a photo identification database that will help in fighting wildlife decline.

A two-day certification process comes first, training every diver to collect and upload photographs of the creatures they see, along with dive location, date and time. This all goes onto an international database on the free-to-use Padi Aware app, to be collated by James Cook University students in Queensland, Australia, and made available to NGOs worldwide.

Suitable for already-certified divers (not beginners), the PADI Shark & Ray Conservation Specialty Course is offered at several of Japan’s diving locations and costs from €162. The course entails a short e-learning module about sharks and rays, why they are endangered, and how the project is fighting those threats, as well as two mandatory 45-minute training dives.

It’s not the first time the local population has worked with unexpected partners to combat environmental challenges. One of the issues facing Okinawa’s reefs is the coral bleaching that occurs during extreme heat. In 1998, in Onna Village in Manza Bay, 90% of the corals were destroyed by bleaching. Local fishers and divers worked hand-in-hand to rescue surviving corals and plant a coral nursery, with the ambition of becoming the most coral-friendly community in the world.

It worked to bring sharks back to underwater limestone formations. But another bleaching during a failed typhoon season in 2024 has again disrupted the habitat. As well as spotting and recording the species that signpost coral health, diving volunteers can track the system’s regrowth in real time.

Reefs in Okinawa have been part of the region’s attractions for years, providing a basis for the marine tourism that is so economically vital. Now, thanks to PADI’s new initiative, instead of passive visitation, guests drawn by those marine habitats can actively participate in protecting the ecosystem, forming a circular economy of attention that aims to keep fish populations, fisheries, and leisure stakeholders healthy for years to come.

L’article Now tourists in Japan can participate in coral and shark protection dives est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Spanning 10 lanes of traffic on one of the nation’s busiest highways, the $114 million bridge is designed to reconnect habitats between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills. Conservationists say the crossing could play a critical role in protecting mountain lions, bobcats, deer, coyotes, foxes and other species whose migration routes have been cut off by urban development and freeways.

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Construction on the bridge began on Earth Day in 2022, with an expected cost of roughly $90 million. Officials originally hoped to complete the project by 2025, but severe rain and flooding over consecutive years delayed the timeline. 

The wildlife crossing includes two connected bridge structures: a 43,500-square-foot span over the 101 Freeway and a 12,425-square-foot bridge over Agoura Road. Together, the 55,925-square-foot project became the largest wildlife bridge of its kind in the world. 

“We have been studying wildlife, including bobcats, coyotes, and mountain lions, in the park and in the Liberty Canyon area for more than 25 years now, and we have documented the major barrier effects of the freeway, in terms of movement and gene flow. But it is incredibly exciting to see this research turn into conservation action,” said Seth Riley, the wildlife branch chief of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Thousands of native plants are being installed across the structure to recreate the surrounding ecosystem and encourage animals to use the passage naturally. The bridge also includes sound walls and specially designed barriers intended to reduce noise and light from the freeway below. 

More than 50 cameras will eventually monitor the wildlife crossing and surrounding areas, capturing animals as they move through the corridor. Jeff Sikich of the National Park Service said researchers have already completed a two-year study tracking five key species before the bridge opens and will conduct follow-up research afterwards to measure its impact on wildlife movement and population numbers.

The project has become closely associated with the story of P-22, the famed mountain lion that became a symbol of wildlife isolation in Los Angeles after crossing multiple freeways and living for years in Griffith Park. P-22 lived to an estimated 12 years old, longer than most wild male mountain lions. In 2022, biologists found him suffering from severe injuries and illnesses, including kidney failure, head trauma and injuries from a car strike, leading to the difficult decision to humanely euthanise him.

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Beth Pratt, California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation and one of the project’s leading advocates, told The Guardian: “Ensuring that wildlife remain on our landscapes into the future across the Golden State requires that we address the devastation that freeways and roadways have caused to ecosystems, fragmenting them into islands that threaten wildlife large and small with extinction.”

Despite widespread support from environmental organisations and state officials, the crossing has also faced criticism over rising costs and delays. Some conservative commentators and political critics have labelled the project as a ‘bridge to nowhere’, while supporters argue it could become a global model for urban wildlife conservation. 

The project is being praised as part of the state’s broader infrastructure and climate agenda, with officials saying the crossing will help protect both wildlife and the hundreds of thousands of drivers who use the freeway each day.

L’article World’s largest wildlife crossing over California’s 101 freeway set to open in 2026 est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

As far as emperor penguins are concerned, so-called fast ice is an important prerequisite for their survival. Fast ice is solidly attached to the Antarctic coast for most of the year, allowing chicks to hatch and to grow until they develop waterproof feathers, which takes some nine months overall. However, adults depend on such fast ice as well, especially during their moulting period while waiting for new swimming feathers to grow.

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Over the past decade, however, such fast ice has become increasingly rare and precarious. Since 2016, global heating has caused ice levels in the Antarctic sea to decrease. Ice is breaking up earlier than before, which is causing entire colonies to fall into the water. Most chicks drown or freeze to death, and many moulting adults don’t survive their fall either.

“Human-induced climate change poses the most significant threat. Early sea ice breakup is already affecting colonies around the Antarctic, and further changes in sea ice will continue to affect their breeding, feeding and moulting habitat. Emperor penguins are a sentinel species that tell us about our changing world and how well we are controlling greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change,” stated marine ecologist Dr Philip Trathan.

Plunging populations

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a network of about 17,000 scientists and experts from more than 160 countries maintaining the IUCN Red List, four of the five known emperor penguin breeding sites in the Bellingshausen Sea collapsed in 2022. In 2016, another known colony in the Weddell Sea suffered the same fate, leading to thousands of deaths within the colonies. Scientists estimate that emperor penguin numbers fell by 10-22% between 2009 and 2018, which leaves some 595,000 adults at the time of writing.

The IUCN believe the total emperor penguin population will halve by the 2080s and has therefore decided to qualify the largest of all penguin species as “endangered” instead of “near threatened”, thus jumping two categories. When an animal species is endangered, this means they are at a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

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“The emperor penguin’s move to endangered is a stark warning: climate change is accelerating the extinction crisis before our eyes. Governments must act now to urgently decarbonise our economies,” said Martin Harper, chief executive of BirdLife International, which coordinated the IUCN assessment.

According to the IUCN, the emperor penguin is not the only Antarctic inhabitant to suffer from global warming. The Antarctic fur seal is now also being considered as endangered, with a population that has plunged from 2,187,000 in 1999 to 944,000 in 2025.

L’article Emperor penguins officially at risk of extinction after mass drowning of chicks est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

One operator at the intersection of exploration and science is Basecamp Explorer. Located at 78 degrees North, it runs three small-scale lodges. Basecamp Hotel is in Longyearbyen, offering 16 boutique rooms and acting as the gateway to multi-day expeditions. Nordenskiöld, open March to April and July to September, is the world’s northernmost lodge, where the only neighbours are seals, polar bears, ptarmigan, and arctic foxes. Accessible by boat or snowmobile, it’s one of the world’s most remote places to stay. Lastly, Isfjord Radio, a former radio station open from February to September, is now a 22-room boutique hotel on the edge of the Arctic Ocean.

Crucially, Basecamp Explorer has embedded scientific collaboration into its operating model. According to Birgitte Vegsund, Destinations Manager at Basecamp Explorer, these partnerships are not symbolic but foundational. “From the very beginning, we have sought partnerships with organisations that actively contribute to reducing environmental impact and deepening our understanding of the fragile ecosystems in which we operate,” Vegsund told Travel Tomorrow. She notes that polar bears are not just an iconic species, but a key indicator of Arctic ecosystem health, making research support essential to responsible tourism in the region.

A cornerstone is the involvement of the conservation organisation, Polar Bears International (PBI). By supporting PBI, Basecamp Explorer promotes ongoing scientific fieldwork that enhances its own day‑to‑day operational decisions and the quality of guest education. “Our guides receive first‑hand briefings from researchers, ensuring that the information we share with guests is grounded in the latest scientific findings,” Vegsund said.

This science‑led model is particularly important in Svalbard, where recent observations can be easily misinterpreted. Geoff York, Vice President of Science and Policy at Polar Bears International, cautions against complacency following reports that some polar bears in the region are currently maintaining good body condition despite habitat loss.

“That data comes from a very rich, productive part of the Arctic,” York said in a statement to Travel Tomorrow, “but it does not mean polar bears are safe from climate change.” He stresses that there are 20 distinct polar bear subpopulations, each shaped by local conditions, and that Svalbard’s bears are only temporarily buffered by abundant prey and a wide continental shelf.

According to York, broader trends remain deeply concerning. Denning areas are declining, genetic connectivity is decreasing, and reproduction and cub survival suffer in low‑ice years—clear signals of a system under stress.

Against this backdrop, tourism becomes a powerful communication tool. By bringing visitors into direct contact with Arctic landscapes and wildlife under strict safety and environmental protocols, science‑led tourism can translate complex research into a lived experience. York argues that this is where partnerships with operators like Basecamp Explorer play a critical role.

“Visitors have the rare chance to witness Arctic wildlife firsthand, whilst also learning about the challenges of a rapidly warming region,” he said. “That helps travellers become informed Arctic ambassadors.”

For Basecamp Explorer, this educational dimension is as important as the adventure itself. Vegsund describes the experience of seeing polar bears in their natural habitat, combined with scientific context, as transformative—one that connects travellers directly to the realities of climate change and the urgency of conservation.

“Educating travellers on polar bears and witnessing their natural habitats is a powerful experience,” she notes, highlighting that guests leave with a deeper understanding of both the science and the responsibility that comes with visiting such a fragile environment.

A special joint expedition runs just after Arctic Sea Ice Day on 15 July, from 16-26 July 2026, combining four days at Isfjord Radio with an expedition cruise aboard Northern Expeditions’ Kinfish vessel. And throughout the year, Basecamp’s 4–8-day journeys blend dog sledging, glacier hiking, kayaking, and wildlife watching with expert input on polar bear ecology, sea-ice loss, and climate impacts. Prices start from NOK 191,753 (€17,000) per person on a full-board basis, including all Zodiac excursions, planned tours and activities in Longyearbyen and all luggage costs and transportation between the airport, hotel and port on embarkation and debarkation days.

As climate pressures intensify across the Arctic, Svalbard’s role as a hub for research, monitoring and science‑led tourism is likely to grow. The region demonstrates how carefully managed tourism, when aligned with credible research and conservation goals, can support scientific insight, strengthen coexistence strategies, and amplify global awareness of what is at stake for polar bears and the Arctic ecosystems they depend on.

L’article The critical role of Svalbard research and science-led tourism in polar bear survival est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

High Five took the winning photograph in Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains. He spent four days trekking through misty forests in search of gorilla families in their natural habitat, until he found his subject. The image shows a young gorilla seemingly mid-dance, its right paw raised as if offering a high-five, with a bewildered look on its face.

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Meth-Cohn encountered the Amahoro family, a large group of gorillas, gathered in a forest clearing during the expedition. While the adults calmly foraged, the younger members played. “One young male was especially keen to show off his acrobatic flair: pirouetting, tumbling, and high-kicking,” Meth-Cohn explains in a statement. “His performance was pure joy, and I’m thrilled to have captured his playful spirit in this image.”

Selected from over 10,000 entries from 109 countries, High Five also won the Mammals category. According to Stefan Maier, Nikon Europe’s senior general manager of marketing, the shortlisted images were chosen for their “joy, skill and imagination in capturing the natural world”. He added that Meth-Cohn’s work “perfectly represents the playful spirit of wildlife”.

Meth-Cohn also received a Highly Commended mention for another photograph, Aaaawa – mum, showing a baby gorilla being kissed by its mother.

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Other category winners

In the Reptile, Amphibian and Insect category, 13-year-old Grayson Bell from the United States won with his comical image of two frogs locked in a watery struggle, titled Baptism of the Unwilling Convert, a comical image of two frogs locked in a watery struggle. This photograph also earned him the Nikon Junior Photographer Award, which is open to photographers aged 16 and under. ‘I lay on my belly with my camera, watching them and taking shots,’ said Bell.

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The Young Photographer Award (for photographers under 25) went to Paula Rustemeier of Germany for Hit the Dance Floor, a lively image of two foxes at play.

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The UK featured prominently among the winners. Warren Price claimed the Think Tank Birds Award with Headlock, showing a guillemot peering through its partner’s bill, while Jenny Stock won the Fish and Other Aquatic Species Award for Smiley, an expressive underwater portrait of a blue-striped fangblenny.

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Maggie Hoffman of the United States won the Amazing Internet Portfolio Award for her four-image series Digging for Gold, featuring a chimpanzee picking its nose. Germany’s Tatjana Epp was named Video Category Winner for Surfing Heron, a clip showing a heron skimming across the surface of the water.

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Other images receiving Highly Commended mentions included Kalin Botev’s Monkey Circus, showing a group of playful monkeys; Meline Ellwanger’s photograph of yawning lions; Valtteri Mulkahainen’s smiling bear; and Lilian Luca’s image of a lemur licking its finger.

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He took the photograph in Madagascar, and recounted how the lemur stared at him and “with the grace of a stage actor and the timing of a comedian raised his hand, licking it thoughtfully as if he knew exactly what he was doing”.

Along with the handmade trophy, Meth-Cohn won a safari in Kenya’s Maasai Mara and a Think Tank camera bag. The public can still cast its vote for the People’s Choice Award online until 1 March 2026.

L’article Dancing gorilla wins 2025 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards in Rwanda est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The yellow signs, measuring 1.7m high and 45cm wide, printed in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese — caution people to “beware of bears” and offer simple instructions on how to react in case of an encounter. Among other advice, the signs recommend crouching and protecting the head and neck if a bear appears nearby. Each sign also features a QR code linking to a prefectural website tracking bear sightings. 

The move comes as the country faces what authorities describe as the most intense period of bear activity on record. According to public broadcaster NHK, since April 2025, Japan has recorded at least 13 fatal bear encounters and around 220 injuries — a sharp increase over previous years. As sightings rise nationwide, bears are increasingly appearing inside homes, near school grounds and even disrupting supermarkets.

The first sign was put up on 29 November in front of the branch office of the Sakyo Ward’s Yase branch, after city officials discovered bear droppings at that spot. Between April and 25 November, the city recorded 112 reports of bear sightings or related information — up from 86 over the same period in 2024. 

This visualization maps Japan’s surge in bear encounters between April and November 4, 2025 — each point representing a recorded attack.

• Yellow dots indicate injuries
• Red dots indicate deaths

2025 isn’t over yet, and the number of bear attacks and deaths has already more… pic.twitter.com/32aftA7lF0

— Open Minded Approach (@OMApproach) November 9, 2025

Experts and officials attribute the surge to a combination of factors. The population of the species — the Asiatic black bear — is estimated to have more than tripled since 2012, as hunting has declined. At the same time, poor acorn and beechnut harvests this year mean bears’ natural food supply is scarce. Many rural areas have been depopulated, and abandoned farm lands or overgrown properties provide the bears with cover, making it easier for them to roam into towns.

Japan’s National Police Agency this week announced a series of emergency measures to support regions hit by a surge in bear incursions, including the distribution of 44 rifles and ammunition to police in 13 prefectures such as Akita and Iwate, along with 790 sets of protective gear for officers handling evacuations and securing areas where bears have been sighted. 

A supplementary 480 million yen (€2.66m) budget was approved on 28 November to fund the plan, with police training to follow gradually. Earlier in the month, the military was deployed in northern regions to help set traps as local authorities struggled with the rise in attacks. Some prefectures, including Akita, Iwate and Gifu, have reported six times more sightings this year, leading residents to carry bear bells even in semi-urban areas, while officials test barking drones to keep bears away from orchards and other vulnerable locations.

While many of the incidents have occurred in remote or mountainous areas, some have taken place near popular tourist spots — including Shirakawa, a village, whose traditional thatched-roof cottages attract foreign travellers. Following last month’s incident in which a Spanish tourist was injured, six bears have been caught near Shirakawa using honey‑baited traps, and officials say more are expected.

Authorities say the multilingual signs are urgently needed to warn the rising number of international tourists in Kyoto and provide clear safety guidance to reduce the risk of bear encounters.

L’article Kyoto issues urgent bear warnings in four languages amid rising attacks est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Dubbed ‘the greatest wildlife roadshow on Earth’, the Great Migration attracts enormous global attention to the Maasai Mara ecosystem. It is therefore unsurprising that the luxury hotel chain chose this area for its new tented camp.

STATEMENT ON CLAIMS OF WILDEBEEST MIGRATION BLOCKAGE IN THE MAASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE pic.twitter.com/jzmGW4a3sO

— Kenya Wildlife Service (@KWSKenya) November 27, 2025

Since August, the project has faced fierce pushback when conservationists and Maasai leaders filed a lawsuit accusing the newly opened lodge of disrupting a critical migration corridor.

Every year, around 1.5 million wildebeest, 400,000 zebras, 12,000 elands and 300,000 Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles travel from Tanzania’s Serengeti to Kenya, covering approximately 800 kilometres in a clockwise loop, to spend several months on the plains of the Maasai Mara. The timing of their arrival depends on rainfall patterns, grazing conditions, and wider climatic shifts.

The legal case was filed on 7 August by Meitamei Oloff Dapash, director of the Maasai Education, Research and Conservation (MERC) Institute. He argues that the 20 tented suites, each with private decks and plunge pools, built along the Sand River violate the 2023–2032 Maasai Mara Management Plan, which imposed a moratorium on new tourist accommodation in ecologically sensitive areas until 2032.

“The preservation of wildlife migration is a treasure that we cannot afford to lose,” said Dapash.

The controversy escalated after a video circulated online seemingly showing confused wildebeest confronted with a barrier, with people in the background attempting to move them away.

In a detailed statement issued on 27 November, KWS said it had “noted with concern” the allegations circulating on social media. The authority stressed that the camp lies within a designated low-use investment zone, as defined by the Maasai Mara National Reserve Management Plan. This zoning, KWS explained, is based on comprehensive scientific assessments, ecological sensitivity analyses, and spatial planning frameworks informed by over 20 years of GPS-collar tracking data.

These long-term datasets demonstrate that migrating wildebeest “use the entire breadth of the 68-kilometre Kenya – Tanzania border and have no specific or preferred corridor”.

KWS also stated that several images circulating online, which are being used to blame the Ritz-Carlton camp, are “outdated, misleading or presented without context”.

This video shows how the Ritz-Carlton concealed a section of its construction from the official drawings, placing it directly in a migratory corridor. A hotel charging $350,000 per night means it will never even be accessible to most Kenyans, but choosing short-term profit over… https://t.co/zHiisJANRK pic.twitter.com/6xenwBCzmB

— Nelson Amenya (@amenya_nelson) November 20, 2025

The agency insisted that all ecological, environmental and regulatory requirements had been met prior to the camp’s approval and emphasised that all developments in protected areas undergo mandatory assessments to ensure they align with conservation priorities.

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has confirmed that the Ritz-Carlton camp is not located on any wildlife migratory corridor, ‘in line with its statutory mandate under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act’.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), in line with its statutory mandate under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, has formally testified and certified that the Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara is not situated on any wildlife migratory corridor.

This confirmation is supported by…

— NEMA Kenya (@NemaKenya) November 28, 2025

David Ongare, NEMA’s Director of Compliance, said that the Environmental Impact Assessment had been carried out in full, involving public participation forums and stakeholder input. He added that the project’s certification was supported by ecological surveys, GPS-referenced field studies, and scientifically verifiable data, all of which were consistent with the EIA licence and subsequent environmental audits.

Narok County officials have also dismissed the accusations as unfounded and misleading.

Undeterred, activists argue that the issue goes beyond this one development. They say that the case reflects mounting concern about the rapid expansion of high-value tourism in Kenya’s protected areas.

‘It is deeply troubling that a company known for maintaining strict environmental and ethical standards would abandon those same standards in Kenya,’ said Dapash.

L’article Kenyan authorities reject claims Ritz-Carlton camp blocks wildebeest migration est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Although Asiatic black bears are listed as a vulnerable species globally, their numbers in Japan are on the rise. Research estimates that the bears have tripled in numbers since 2012, which can be explained by a decline in hunting. And while the fact that their numbers are growing could be a good thing, there is also a more negative side to the surge.

Climate change is rapidly changing the bears’ living environment. Their natural sources of food, including acorns and beechnuts, are growing more sparse due to global warming. Meanwhile, Japan’s rural villages are rapidly growing depopulated – meaning the bears are less afraid to approach villages, where they are likely to come across abandoned farm lands and orchards, with plenty of food. The rewards for getting closer to humans thus outnumber the risks.

This has led to a steady growth in the number of bear sightings and attacks. According to public broadcaster NHK, 220 people have been injured by bears since April 2025. 13 of those have died, including seven in the month of October, during which bears tend to forage intensively before starting their hibernation.

Tourism numbers may be impacted

Those numbers are historic and are now also interfering with the country’s tourism appeal. While many attacks took place in little-visited locations across Japan, a Spanish tourist was attacked last month in Shirakawa, a well-known spot amongst tourists, known for its thatched-roof cottages.

In an interview with Reuters, local official Shiroki Mitsunari (40) confirms that the number of bear sightings has steeply grown. As a kid, Mitsunari reportedly never saw a bear, while 100 have been reported so far in 2025. Since the incident with the Spanish tourist, six bears have been captured near Shirakawa using honey-laced traps, and he expects more are yet to come.

Given the growing number of bear attacks in Japan, several countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, have issued travel advisories for those visiting.

“Bear sightings and attacks have increased in parts of Japan, especially in mountainous and forested areas, including near populated zones. Follow local advice and alerts, and take precautions if travelling in these areas. You should research the region to learn about the local wildlife; avoid walking alone in areas where bears have been sighted; take all rubbish with you, including food waste; and report any sightings to local authorities”, the UK’s Foreign Office states.

Local authorities in Japan, especially those in rural areas, are also weighing in on the matter. Hikers should be aware of the bear risk and are advised to walk in groups, as are children walking home from school. Bear bells can be bought locally, while authorities are testing barking drones to repel bears from orchards near villages and other likely targets.

L’article Travel advisories updated as Japanese tourist attraction is hit by bear attack est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Nicknamed “Mimmo,” a Tuscan endearment for a small child and the diminutive form of Domenico, the dolphin has been spotted leaping out of the water, a form of play, communication, cleansing, and hunting.

He has also bucked traditional wisdom and trend data that says dolphins rarely enter Venice’s lagoon, as they are usually repelled by the area’s frequent boat activity. Two dolphins were spotted in the lagoon during the relative lull in marine traffic caused by COVID-19. Mimmo, however, does not seem so far to have any problem avoiding the gondolas, water taxis, and water buses that frequent Venice and its islands.

Marine biologist Luca Mizzan, head of Venice’s Natural History Museum, has pointed out that the creature seems quite determined to stay put: “This animal seems really sure of what it wants to do… It is perfectly capable of going out to sea.” The dolphin stays in the vicinity of the iconic St. Mark’s Basilica, does not show signs of hunger and appears untroubled by the boats, crowds, and noise, Mizzan told RAI public television.

Some might speculate that Mimmo has found his way to St Mark’s because of common ground with the apostle. Both dolphins and St Mark are associated with assisting sailors, and in some Ethiopian representations, St Mark is depicted with a dolphin.

On a practical level, though, there remains a risk that Mimmo could be injured by a boat propeller. Experts estimate the number of marine creatures struck by boats in the thousands every year, and some dolphin populations, such as those in Sarasota Bay in Florida, bear more scars than others, with around 1 in 20 showing signs of collision and up to five percent of deaths caused by interactions with boats, research shows.

Meanwhile, for Domenico the Dolphin, the coming of winter could be a good thing, as it would reduce the Venice fish supplies and could incentivise him to exit the lagoon of his own accord. In any case, under his own steam appears to be the only way he will leave, as Mizzan says, “even if we were to escort it, it could come back within a couple of hours.”

L’article The wild dolphin reluctant to leave Venice’s lagoon est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The Zoo in Aalborg, Denmark, shared a call-out post on its Facebook page on Thursday, 31 July, inviting pet owners to donate small healthy pets to the zoo to help feed its carnivorous animals. A link featured in the publication leads to the zoo’s website, where it’s noted that the facility is also interested in receiving horses, however, they are considered under strict conditions such as being under a certain size (maximum of 147 cm at the withers), having valid health documentation, and accompanied by a passport, with donors eligible for tax deductions. According to the website, they accept up to four small animals per visit on weekdays between 10 am and 1 pm, with no appointment required.

The zoo defends the practice as part of its effort to replicate natural feeding behaviours, stating that it’s their responsibility to mimic the animals’ natural food chain and ensure that animals have a healthy, natural and species-appropriate diet — “for the sake of both animal welfare and professional integrity.”

Pets are promised to be “gently euthanised by trained staff” and then used as food. “This way, nothing goes to waste – and we ensure natural behaviour, nutrition and well-being of our predators,” the zoo said.

This initiative, however, has drawn significant public backlash. Across social media platforms, commenters criticised the notion of surrendering healthy pets to be used as food. Others, including some animal experts and local proponents, see the program as a practical and humane alternative to abandonment or shelter overcapacity.

Despite the backlash, the zoo says that the practice is long-standing and regulated, as Danish animal welfare rules permit zoos to accept animal donations under strict conditions. As of now, the zoo has not commented publicly in response to the criticism, but the debate has highlighted a broader discussion around ethical feeding practices in zoos and the role of transparency in animal care.

L’article Danish zoo asks public to donate small animals to feed their predators est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.