Abstract
Mythical creatures have long been a significant tourist attraction, drawing people towards a wide range of animals situated in varied locations around the world. They include Nessie in Scotland, bunyips in Australia, bigfoot in North America, and dragons in numerous places. They are loaded with culturally derived, human meanings that position them as far more than mere objects of the tourist gaze. Yet objects are how they are generally constructed. Like other non-human animals, they are dominated by humans who control how they are defined. This is even more so in the case of mythical creatures whose voices are even harder to hear than their non-mythical animal counterparts. Humans are increasingly recognising the sentient nature of such non-mythical animals, viewing them as active social agents with attendant rights and welfare needs. This is driving the tourism industry to reconsider how it engages with animals. This chapter explores whether these rising concerns about animal rights and welfare need to be expanded to mythical animals.