Adventure operator Explore has issued a new animal protection policy.
The company pledged to “never knowingly” compromise the welfare of any animal either in captivity or in the wild.
The operator has used time when operations have been paused to work with specialist animal welfare organisations to create a “robust” policy, including Born Free, Animodial and Four Paws.
A traffic light system for all animal interactions has been introduced as part of the policy.
“We have given interactions with all free-roaming animals the green light and assumed these to be ethical,” the operator said.
“We have a strict policy around any experience which may harm or threaten an animal; those are given the red light and never acceptable on our holidays.
“All those in between will be annually audited for quality assurance, either by ourselves for working animals or independently for all captive animals.”
Explore added: “We will work with any suppliers, alongside our partners, where the welfare of an animal is of concern to make improvements rather than moving immediately to another.
“Industry-wide change and greater understanding is crucial for long term sustainability.”
New tour leader charity projects will see the company support three communities in Uganda, Costa Rica and India.