Selfies with dopey tigers may be one of the most popular things on Tinder, but petting wild animals could soon become a lot harder.
TripAdvisor has announced it will stop selling tickets for wildlife attractions, in a bid to wipe out the ugly side of animal tourism.
TripAdvisor is one of the world's biggest travel websites. As Hack reported in July, It's been under pressure to stop selling tickets to attractions where tourists come in contact with wild animals, after research by Oxford University found a whopping three out of four attractions involve some form of animal cruelty.
Those attractions include things such as riding elephants, holding sea turtles and posing with wildlife like tigers.
Today the travel company, which made a profit of $63 million in 2015, caved in to those demands.
New education portal
Not only will it stop selling tickets on its website, and the website of associated brand Viator, it will also create an online education portal where people can learn about how animals are treated in overseas attractions.
So, if you're travelling to Thailand and want to see a performing monkey while you're there, you can find one you like on TripAdvisor, and click on a new paw icon to find out exactly how those animals are treated.
"TripAdvisor's new booking policy and education effort is designed as a means to do our part in helping improve the health and safety standards of animals, especially in markets with limited regulatory protections," head of the website, Stephen Kaufer, said in a statement.
"At the same time, we want to celebrate those destinations and attractions that are leaders in caring for animals and those in the tourism industry who help further the cause of animal welfare, conservation and the preservation of endangered species."
TripAdvisor's leadership position in travel means we can help educate millions of travellers about the diverse opinions that exist on matters of animal welfare."
"We believe the end result of our efforts will be enabling travellers to make more thoughtful choices about whether to visit an animal attraction and to write more meaningful reviews about those attractions," he said.
Hundreds of thousands sign anti-cruelty petition
Animal welfare group, World Animal Protection, set up a petition calling for TripAdvisor to stop selling tickets to wildlife attractions. By Monday this week, a whopping 558,000 people around the world had signed it.
Nicola Beynon, from the Australian branch of the welfare group, welcomed TripAdvisor's decision to stop selling tickets, and said she looked forward to working with the website in creating the education portal.
"We're happy to be a part of their new initiative to help raise awareness among TripAdvisor users about these abuses and we will work with and continue to steer the company until all sales of cruel wildlife entertainment has been removed and their users know about every cruel wildlife attraction," she said.
Once people know the truth about these wildlife abuses they will choose to stay away because they love animals."
But Nicola's still concerned about the sale of tickets for places like SeaWorld, which she said forces animals to "endure a lifetime of abuse and highly stressful training to perform".
"Until then we will provide the best education we can on TripAdvisor's website to steer people away from cruel venues like these," she said.
World Animal Protection reckons a massive 110 million people around the world will take in an animal attraction while they're on holidays, with many unaware that the attraction has a history of abuse.