Cat Expeditions Ethics

We pride ourselves at Cat Expeditions to follow the best ethics in how we plan, organize, and implement our wild cat tours. Ethics are complicated and are not a black and white issue, but we make conscious decisions in every part of our business to ensure the safety of the cats, as well as the livelihoods of our local partners. On this page we discuss the different ethical choices we have made to give you clarity into our decisions.

Ethics in Regards to Wildlife

The welfare of the animals we encounter comes first and foremost. All of our decisions are made with this in mind. We use only expert guides and trip leaders, that have studied animal behavior for years to ensure that at the first sign of discomfort from the animal, we back off. We never ever use bait, of any kind to attract any animal. We don't make noise to get the animal to look in our direction. We believe that if we act in the least obtrusive way possible, we will not only ensure the safety of the wildlife, but we will also observe the most natural behavior of the wild cats.

Ethics in Regards to Trip Leaders and Guides

Each of our trip leaders cares deeply about ethics in wildlife photography. Each trip leader sits at least on one ethics committee for a wildlife photography organization, including for NANPA (North American Nature Photography Association) and iLCP (International League of Conservation Photographers). Ethics are a major pillar in the thought process for each of our trip leaders. Their same views are shared by our local guides. This is another conscious decision we have made at Cat Expeditions. Each tour is co-led by a local, on the ground guide, who knows the area and animals better than anyone else ever could. We continuously seek to hire women guides and minorities. 

Ethics in Regards to our Accommodations

To select our lodging we go through the pain staking process of researching all of the available lodging in the area. We then rate that lodging based on services, local or family ownership, operations sustainability practices, construction sustainability, and staff hiring practices.

Ethics in Regards to our Conservation Actions

One of the main reasons why Cat Expeditions was started, was to aid in the conservation of wild cats through ecotourism. Anywhere between 10-18% of each tour cost is given as a donation to a well researched conservation organization that works on protecting the wild cats in the area. Ecotourism can be a powerful conservation tool, especially when it financially aids cash-strapped NGOs in the area.