Nick Stewart

Hi, I'm Nick Stewart, acting global head of the Wildlife Not Entertainers campaign at World Animal Protection.

I’ve been drawn to work in wildlife and natural environment protection for many years, but I remember coming across two miserable-looking bears languishing in cramped cages with no hope of escape whilst on a hiking trip in the Carpathians some 20 years ago. They were incarcerated and yet in plain sight and touching distance of the mountains and the wilderness, and that sense of injustice and unnecessary suffering really set me on my path.

My role is to lead the global campaign to create change for the 500,000+ wild animals currently being exploited in captivity across the world entertaining tourists, including elephants, tigers and dolphins. I love exposing the often hidden cruelty of wildlife tourism and finding ways of bringing it the forefront of people’s attention. It’s all about changing people’s minds once they know the truth, and then working with others on the solutions that let wild animals live according to their best needs, free from suffering and ideally in the wild.

My blog posts will therefore highlight our ground-breaking work moving towards a world where wild animal exploitation in tourism or any other industry that causes harm, stress or discomfort is unacceptable.