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Three of Plettenberg Bay’s animal sanctuaries are in the running for a global responsible tourism award after being handpicked out of hundreds of nominations across the world.
The South African Animal Alliance (SAASA), which includes Monkeyland, Birds of Eden and the Jukani Wildlife Sanctuary, was nominated by visitors for this year’s World Responsible Tourism Awards and after research into their responsible tourism policies by the Centre for Responsible Tourism, the sanctuaries made it to the judging round.
The awards have 11 categories and Plett’s sanctuaries are in the running for the Best Animal Welfare Initiative award which is for a tourism business or organisation leading the way in their approach to the care, wellbeing and dignity of animals.
Sponsored by the Oman Ministry of Tourism and organised by responsibletravel.com, the awards were founded to find and celebrate the best examples of responsible tourism from around the world. Subsequently the awards were also established to recognise, reward, inspire and to challenge others to do more.
After being longlisted for the awards, each organisation was also asked to supply several independent reference letters to testify to the sanctuary’s achievements. SAASA managed to secure a stamp of approval by business magnate Sir Richard Branson.
“A few years ago we helped Branson with his lemur sanctuary on Moskito Island. While working together he got to see our approach and that we are also against the pet-play-and-pay industry,” SAASA spokesman Lara Mostert said.
Mostert added that SAASA took responsible tourism very seriously and therefore Monkeyland and Birds of Eden were Fairtrade accredited and Jukani was in the process of being accredited.
“We abide by the strict procedural rules laid out within the Fairtrade framework. At SAASA we have a strong commitment to the welfare of our animals. The animals come first and therefore we have a strict ‘no-touch’ policy which applies to all tourists, staff and/or other visitors to our sanctuaries. The only interaction that occurs is that with the wild animal and its own kind.”
While the primary focus of SAASA is to provide safe sanctuary for wildlife and to provide tourist education regarding conservation, they also contribute significantly to community upliftment – providing job opportunities to locals.
SAASA is also striving to transform the industry into a more responsible one and was this year invited to join the panel of the Wildlife Welfare Science and Ethics Group which is in the process of changing existing wildlife management and captivity by-laws along the Garden Route and Karoo. The new by-laws will prohibit wild animals from being used for profit by petting, hand-feeding and posing with them.
All the organisations longlisted have also been asked to complete a comprehensive questionnaire to put the sanctuaries through their paces. A panel of judges will then debate which organisations stand out among their peers before announcing a shortlist and ultimately the winners next month.
