ABOUT US

Animals are important tourism attractions. To satisfy the profit and pleasure motives of the industry they are held as captives, made to work as carriers and porters, forced into combat and competition, pursued for sport and subsistence, and viewed in wildlife tourism and ecotourism contexts.

Research indicates that tourists are unaware of the welfare and conservation impacts they have on animals.

We are dedicated to the creation of responsible, cutting-edge solutions to improve the welfare of animals in tourism, and to increasing the animal welfare literacy of all tourism stakeholders.

CAT Prospectus

Value Statements

Our Core Values

Accountability

Collaboration

Justice

Research innovation

Respect for nature

Stewardship

Sustainability

Transparency

Mission Statement

To move knowledge into practice for the just treatment of animals in tourism.

Vision Statement

A just global tourism industry that values and respects the

wellbeing of animals.

Slogans

Change through knowledge.

Most forward-thinking people have their heads turned sideways.

(Harold Macmillan)

Meet the Team

Executive Director

David Fennell, PhD

David is a Professor in the

Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, Brock University. His main focus of research is on tourism and animal ethics and ecotourism. He has published widely in these areas, including books on Ecotourism (6th edition), Tourism Ethics (2nd edition), Codes of Ethics in Tourism, Tourism and Animal Ethics (2nd edition), and Sustainable Tourism: Principles, Contexts, and Practices. A major thrust of his research involves the use of theory from other disciplines to gain traction on tourism’s most persistent problems. Fennell is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Ecotourism, is the editor of a Routledge book series on tourism ethics, and is the editor of two Routledge Handbooks: Tourism and the environment, and Ecotourism. David has been the principal force shaping the tourism and animal ethics literature for 25 years—a sub-field he created in 2000. He is a Fellow of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism—global top scholars on the topic of tourism. ScholarGPS recognises David as a Highly Ranked Scholar – Lifetime, within the top 0.05% of scholars worldwide (all disciplines)

https://scholargps.com/scholars/27056179447099/david-a-fennell

Director

Ian Hamilton, MBA

Ian Hamilton is President & CEO of HOPA Ports (Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority). He assumed this role in 2017, after serving as the Port Authority’s Vice President of Business Development and Real Estate since 2008. Ian has been instrumental in developing working waterfronts in Hamilton, Oshawa, and Niagara by attracting new business and private investment, and creating an integrated marine network across Southern Ontario.

Ian possesses more than 25 years of experience in international transportation and logistics in Europe and North America, and has held progressively senior positions in the liner shipping industry, including Transatlantic Trade Director (Europe) for CP Ships and Business Development Manager for Hapag-Lloyd. Ian holds positions on various boards, including: Chamber of Marine Commerce, Association of Canadian Port Authorities (ACPA), The Hamilton Club, and Brigs Youth Sail Training.

Ian holds an MBA from Aston University (UK) and a BSc in business administration and economics from the College of Charleston, South Carolina.

Director & Lead Certification Architect

Monica Mic, PhD

Monica leads systems design and verification architecture for the CAT Consortium’s certification model, focusing on the development of scalable, justice-aligned infrastructure to support ethical and sustainable animal-based tourism. Her role draws on her doctoral research into the market governance of sustainability standards, where she examined how certification systems can either empower or exclude small tourism operators.

Through a research-practice lens, Monica is building foundational tools and frameworks that support transparent verification, market credibility, and resilience — for CAT and the broader evolution of ecotourism certification. Her work seeks to prototype governance models that can grow with integrity, especially in underserved segments of the tourism sector.

TBA