Commercial tourism based on allowing visitors to cut or handle deer velvet antler is a welfare-compromising practice that treats wild and semi-wild deer as tourist attractions without regard for their stress and pain.
The commercialisation of deer antler velvet tourism involves inflicting pain on animals for visitor entertainment or commercial gain. Cutting velvet antler without anaesthesia causes pain from the severing of vascular tissue and nerve-rich membrane. Deer subjected to close approach by visitors, handling, and velvet cutting experience fear and stress that may not be apparent to observers. Habituated deer that approach humans for food become dependent and lose appropriate flight responses, creating safety risks and welfare complications. Responsible deer tourism observes animals at respectful distances without feeding or handling.