Congratulations to Duncan McNair, founder of Save The Asian Elephants (STAE) and instigator of the Animals (Low Activities Abroad) Act, who was awarded “Legal Hero of the Year 2024” by the Law Society in an important ceremony in London on 12 September 2024.
There were 19 shortlisted nominees drawn from 500 plus entries out of 220,000 solicitors, and five eventual winners.
Duncan said “I was pleased today to be awarded ‘Legal Hero of the Year 2024’ by the Law Society. But it’s all about the animals we love and are so concerned for and I hope it will help raise awareness to encourage the implementation of the new Act and its adoption across the world”.
Exclusive Interview with AIA
Duncan McNair of Save The Asian Elephants gave an exclusive interview to AIA on The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.
- Can you please introduce yourself to our readers and explain the mission of Save The Asian Elephants?
I’m Duncan McNair, a lawyer practising litigation in the City of London. I always wanted to be involved in major animal protection causes since youth. It was one reason why I pursued a path to being a lawyer. There have been several very senior judges in my family but I wanted to practise law, to have clients, to gather evidence, to present and try to win cases, above all to help and protect vulnerable animals, who have no voice we can understand.
I founded Save The Asian Elephants in 2015 after my first visit to India, where I was utterly traumatised and outraged to see endangered baby elephants beaten and stabbed, screaming and crying, to “break” them for easy use in tourism – much generated in the UK. The mission was to help preserve and protect the ancient, wondrous species of Asian elephants, whose numbers have crashed spectacularly almost to no return. The aim was new law to end the advertising and sale of unethical animal tourism practices, including amongst hundreds of practices, elephant riding (which involves prior extreme brutality).
I felt sure we had to approach the problem from the right angle, and resolutely; to develop measures whose success is not contingent on the concurrence of the countries where the brutality is happening; to develop a powerful and persuasive evidence base, formulate coherent and credible, consistent policies, hugely raise public awareness, to gain and maintain vast support, and then lean hard on the political classes – to change the law and make sure it really works. No more empty blandishments from unethical travel companies about change – we needed compulsion of law, widely publicised and robustly enforced.
2. Can you please explain what “low-welfare” activities are and how tourism related to these activities affects animals?
Difficult to define “low welfare” as it embraces endless different brutal and unethical practices towards animals. Any activity that limits or prevents the “Five Freedoms” – freedom from hunger and thirst, from discomfort, from pain, injury, disease, from fear and distress, to express normal behaviour. In practice, “low welfare” is a mild expression of the most extreme violence and damage done to many species, wanton, pointless, driven by the commercial imperative. Exploitative tourism treats highly sentient creatures as if they are inanimate and incapable of feelings. The unregulated, often reckless and ruthless global market often forgets this in the stampede for turnover and profit.
3. Is there a particular animal you think of when you think about low-welfare animal activities? Can you tell us their story?
Numerous species across every corner of the world will benefit from this Act. Take Asian elephants – complex, majestic and ecologically crucial “mega-gardeners of the forests” which they nourish and sustain. Their sad fate in tourism is to be snatched as babies from the wild, their defensive mothers killed in front of them, isolated and starved for weeks, then beaten, ripped with hooks and screamed at until their “spirits break” (called Pajan). One half die in the process. Their remaining lives are endured often in extreme violence, deprivation and despair.
Add to the list baby monkeys enslaved from the forests to a life of selfies and profile pics, tiger cubs just photo props then drugged and chained for life in tiny cages, “walking with lions” later sold on for “canned hunting”, dolphins and orcas in tiny featureless pools till death, ostriches seriously injured and in great pain by being ridden – all these and more will gain from this law whose ultimate goal is to steer the market towards ethical tourism.
4. How do the wild animal photo-op industries feed into poaching/canned hunting?
Its yet another form of unthinking commercial exploitation of defenceless animals, by some of the world’s biggest businesses. They generate a pseudo-myth that its Manly and courageous to take on a wild creature. But they’re not wild, they’re drugged, declawed, vaseline spread in their eyes, helpless, and it’s all completely uneven. The animals with whom tourists are coaxed to have selfies, play games and tricks or even to kill when cowering in a cage – for tourism fun and kicks – have no chance at all, no life, no dignity, no mercy. Its cowardly but it plays to Man’s ego and vanity, especially if they can then adorn their fireplace back home with the head or pelt of the victim.
5. Can you please tell us about the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act and what the Act’s current status is?
The Act prohibits travel companies from selling or advertising in this country attractions or activities abroad which inflict low standards of welfare on any vertebrate animals if those activities would be unlawful if taking place in England and N Ireland. We hope that Scotland and Wales will soon enact similar legislation and we are working for that now. It is already law but it needs “activity regulations” to be introduced – a long list of abusive activities that must no longer be promoted. STAE has sent these to government along with comprehensive evidence in support.
The Act is hugely important because it’s measures can be adopted by any country in the world where markets in unscrupulous animal-tourism flourish. This includes continental Europe, USA, Australasia and almost everywhere else.
Please help Save The Asian Elephants (STAE) as we lead a huge coalition of charities in getting the Westminster government to implement these measures.
6. Is there anything else you’d like to share?
For ways to help and letters to write to key politicians see: https://stae.org/help-us/
Tell your friends and family about STAE.
Write about us on social media.
Introduce us to press, TV, radio and new audiences (STAE travels to make speeches in US and beyond).
Never buy a holiday where you can touch or play with animals.
Contact us on FB, X, Instagram, savetheasianelephants@stae.org. We’d love to hear.
Volunteer for STAE! All at STAE work for no money but we have many expenses. Please help us: https://stae.org/donate/
Animal Interfaith Alliance 