Julie Middelkoop

Hi I'm Julie, head of the Wildlife - Not Entertainers campaign at World Animal Protection.

I have been campaigning to protect wild animals in the tourism industry since I started at World Animal Protection in 2012. At first I worked locally, raising awareness among Dutch people, who are known for their wanderlust, and also Dutch tour operators. It makes me proud to know that as a result, tour operators in the Netherlands are amongst the most animal-friendly in the world.

I started to work further across Europe in 2015, and since 2016 I have lead the campaign at an international level. Along with other World Animal Protection country teams, I am creating a global movement of individual, travel industry and government stakeholders, all working together to protect wildlife. I feel lucky that my job allows me to combine my two passions, wildlife and travelling.

I’ll be blogging about our campaign, our partnerships with travel companies and wildlife venues. And most importantly I’ll be sharing the positive change our work has on the lives of wild animals.

It's my dream that one day I will be able to go travelling without having to witness any wildlife cruelty and that other travellers will only want to experience wild animals in the wild, where they belong.