Wildlife Tourism

David Newsome, Ross K. Dowling, Susan A. Moore

• Publisher: Channel View Publications
• Year: 2005
• ISBN:
  9781845413163
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Gastgewerbe, Reise- & Tourismusbranche

This book is a landmark contribution to the rapidly growing field of wildlife tourism, especially in regard to its underpinning foundations of science, conservation and policy. Written by a number of environmental and biological scientists it explains the synergy between wildlife and tourism by drawing on their global experiences.

Chapter 1

Viewing Animals in the Wild

Introduction

Human fascination with animals has been around as long as the two have co-existed on planet earth. Relationships between humans and animals can take many different forms including being a source of food, clothing or shelter; use for scientific and medical research; as sport or entertainment; as a form of companionship; and/or a point of connection with the natural world. Understanding this relationship with animals is important because it shapes our feelings and actions towards them. This has a direct bearing on our view of animals in and for tourism.

According to Malcom Hunter’s lively short history, the term ‘wildlife’ is less than a century old and was not included in major dictionaries before 1961 in the United States and before 1986 in the United Kingdom (Hunter, 1990). Ominously, its first use was in a book published in 1913 called Our Vanishing Wild Life, which foreshadowed the conservation crisis apparent during the second half of the 20th century. While this work defined wildlife primarily in terms of game species, it also included vertebrate species not regarded as game but perceived as subject to human harvesting or culling. Later definitions of wildlife often emphasise game animals, while others include all non-domesticated vertebrates and, in some cases, invertebrates and plants. This ambiguity creates problems when stakeholders with differing understandings of what is included under the term ‘wildlife’ debate management issues (Hunter, 1990: 4–5).

In this chapter wildlife is taken to mean all non-domesticated vertebrates, in keeping with the scope of recent major monographs (e.g. Berwick & Saharia, 1995: Bolon & Robinson, 2003; Bookhout, 1996). Although invertebrates and plants are excluded, this does not imply that interactions between them and wildlife species are unimportant in the overall well-being of wildlife populations, nor that these groups are unlikely to gain interest in wildlife tourism operations.

The development of the term wildlife was accompanied by the growth of the interrelated academic disciplines of wildlife biology, wildlife management and wildlife conservation. There are now specialist societies (e.g. The Wildlife Society http://www.wildlife.org/, East African Wildlife Society http://www.eawildlife.org/) and journals (e.g. Wildlife Research http://www.publish.csiro.au/journals/wr/, Journal of Wildlife Management http://www.wildlife.org/publications/, South African Journal of Wildlife Research http://journals.sabinet.co.za/wild/) devoted to the study of wildlife and academic courses in wildlife biology at many universities.

Wildlife co-exist with humans but have generally been viewed as a resource by them. Traditional approaches to the conservation of wildlife have centred around their use to humankind. Even today the medicinal, agricultural and industrial importance of wildlife is stressed alongside the aesthetic and ethical value. The viewing of wildlife as part of nature is generally regarded as being either restorative or as a competence builder. These two themes seem to derive their origins in the overall view that humans have of the world. Generally there are two worldviews and people differ over how serious our environmental problems are due to their different worldviews. Worldviews come in many forms but the two most common vary according to whether or not they put humans at the centre of things.

Two examples are the human-centred or anthropocentric worldview that underlies most industrial societies such as in Australia and the ecocentric or life-centred worldview (Miller, 2004). An ethic of ‘use’ is the normative or dominant mode of how human beings relate to nature, where nature is viewed predominantly as a set of resources which humanity is free to employ for its own distinct ends. It is an instrumental and anthropocentric view (Wearing & Neil, 1999).

Key principles of the human-centred worldview are that humans are the planet’s most important species and that humans are apart from, and in charge of, the rest of nature. It assumes the earth has an unlimited supply of resources to which access is gained through use of science and technology. Other people believe that any human-centred worldview, even stewardship, is unsustainable. It is suggested that human worldviews must be expanded to recognise inherent or intrinsic value to all forms of life, that is, value regardless of their potential or actual use to humanity. This is a life-centred or ecocentric worldview in which humans believe that it is useful to recognise biodiversity as a vital element of earth for all life.

The ecocentric worldview believes that nature exists for all of earth’s species and that people are not apart from or in charge of the rest of nature. According to Miller (2004), people need the earth, but the earth does not need people. He suggests that some forms of economic growth are beneficial and some are harmful and that human goals should be to design economic and political systems that encourage sustainable forms of growth and discourage or prohibit forms which cause degradation or pollution. A healthy economy depends on a healthy environment as human survival, life quality, and economies are totally dependent on the rest of nature.

Human–wildlife encounters

Reverence for, the use of, and the appreciation of wildlife probably goes back to prehistoric times when human lives were linked with the animals that lived around them. Throughout human history various species have been domesticated and kept as pets and it is clear that animals play a diverse and crucial role in human society today. In more recent times people’s appreciation of animals has become linked to issues concerning human related impacts on the natural world such as environmental degradation, ecological sustainability and the loss of biological diversity. Urban living, which isolates many people from natural ecosystems, their deep relationship with and interest in various species, natural history documentaries, concerns for the environment, relative affluence, increased transportation and technology and global conservation initiatives, all contribute to an ever-increasing interest in wild animals.

There also appears to be a strong desire within humans to have close contact with animals. Children appear innately fascinated with a plethora of animal species. At one level this is evidenced by the enormous interest in domestic pets. Moreover, over the last 20 years or so there has been an extension from traditional pets to more exotic animals such as snakes, lizards and large invertebrates, indicating that our interest in animal life has broadened.

All of this combines to explain the unprecedented increase in wildlife tourism (Table 1.1). The various approaches and attitudes that people have in relation to wildlife tourism also vary according to levels of education, interests and experience, cultural differences and according to the species of human interest. Different species illicit different responses from people, depending on whether they are seen as being dangerous, rare, large and powerful; ‘furry and cuddly’; anthropomorphic in behaviour; or seen as being intelligent.

Wildlife tourism fundamentally comprises the viewing of wild animals but, as considered above, the desire to view wild animals sits within a complex framework that may result in target species being influenced in an unnatural and negative way. Chapter 2 explores this situation according to the ‘wildlife tourism paradigm’ and highlights a hierarchy of possible influences, commencing with the relatively simple action of finding wildlife through to a situation where wildlife may be fed, touched and manipulated through ignorance or even malicious intent. The paradigm (see Table 2.1) thus facilitates an overview and provides avenues where potential problems might be anticipated in a wildlife tourism situation.

People’s views of the world form one part of their approach to wildlife and their encounters with them. The influence of television documentaries has particularly shaped the views of wildlife of people in the Western world. For many urban dwellers their view of natural areas and the animals within has almost been exclusively shaped by their view of the world as seen through the media of television, and to a lesser extent, motion pictures. Thus it could be argued that this virtual experience often represents their first, and sometimes their only, encounter with wildlife. Other encounters may be gained from viewing wildlife in captive or semi-captive situations such as zoos, aviaries or aquariums. These settings vary in themselves from small enclosed pens to larger fenced areas. These are described as setting preferences for human–wildlife encounters within containment lines where the experience is mediated, but none the less rewarding for the viewers. Settings beyond containment lines occur when the wild animal is viewed in its own environment. Here the encounter is usually both natural and emotional for the viewer. Accepted examples of human–wildlife encounters in the wild usually include photography, feeding and hunting where the first two are labelled as ‘non-consumptive’ and the last as ‘consumptive’.

Table 1.1 Spectrum of wildlife tourism: Selected examples

Animal group of principal interest	Tourism activity	Example of location
Insects	Butterfly viewing	Baynes Reserve, Berkshire, England
Insects	Glow-worm viewing	Springbrook National Park, Australia
Crustaceans	Red crab migration	Christmas Island, Indian Ocean
Fish	Snorkel in freshwaters	Bonito, Prata River, Brazil
Fish and invertebrates	Snorkel/scuba dive coral reefs	Ningaloo Reef and Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Fish	Snorkel with whale sharks	Ningaloo Reef, Australia
Fish	Feeding and close interaction with stingrays	Cayman Islands, Maldives, Western Australia
Fish	Underwater viewing/feeding of sharks	Dyer Island, South Africa
Reptiles	Observing Komodo dragons	Komodo Island, Indonesia
Reptiles	Viewing turtle egg laying process	Exmouth and Mon Repos, Australia
Reptiles and birds	Observe pythons and birds	Bharatpur, India
Reptiles	Observe crocodiles via boat tours	Kakadu National Park, Australia
Birds	Independent or organised visits to reserves for birdwatching	UK, India, USA, Europe, Africa, Australia, South America
Birds	Visits to seabird breeding islands	UK, Australia, USA
Birds	Lodges catering for birdwatchers and offering guided tours	Peru, Costa Rica, Australia
Birds and reptiles	Boats trips on wetlands	Kakadu National Park, Australia; Pantanal, Brazil
Birds and mammals	Islands containing rare, endangered and/or rehabilitated populations	Kapati Island, New Zealand; Rottnest Island, Australia
Birds	Independent travellers and coach tours to see breeding albatross colony	Taiaroa Head, New Zealand
Mammals	Vehicle safari to see large concentrations of mammals	Masai Mara, Kenya; Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
Mammals	Tiger viewing from hides or elephant back. Forest lodges.	Chitwan National Park, Nepal, India
Mammals	Mountain trek and camping in order to observe habituated gorillas	Virunga National Park, West Africa
Mammals	Overnight stay in forest hides in order to view mammals attending a salt lick	Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia
Mammals	Guided tour to observe nocturnal species	Atherton Tableland, Australia (vehicle access and night walk)
Mammals	Boat and/or shore based observation of cetaceans and pinnipeds	Australia, South Africa, Argentina, USA
Mammals	Independent travellers and coach tours attending structured feeding programme. Resort facilities	Monkey Mia, Shark Bay, Western Australia

Sport hunters, hunting groups and game officials believe that humans should be allowed to hunt animals as long as they do not damage wildlife resources. Some of this sport hunting falls into the category of tourism with tourists paying to visit places specifically to hunt and kill wildlife. Examples include sport fishing and big game hunting. Such hunting is tacitly supported by some environmental groups as a way of preserving biological diversity by helping prevent depletion of other native animal species (Miller, 2004). Other groups oppose such hunting altogether on the basis that it reduces the genetic quality of remaining wildlife populations because hunters are most likely to kill the largest and strongest animals. By contrast, natural predators tend to improve population quality by eliminating weak and sick individuals. However, an underlying principle of wildlife tourism is that is should be fostering conservation of species, and therefore, the hunting of wildlife as a tourism activity seems to be inconsistent, unjustified and unnecessary.

Weaver (2001a,b) makes a distinction between consumptive and non-consumptive wildlife tourism. The former embraces tangible products while the latter focuses on experiences. He states that consumptive activities include hunting and fishing whereas non-consumptive wildlife tourism includes birdwatching. By extension this also includes other forms of wildlife viewing as well as wildlife photography. Both form parts of a continuum in which there is often some overlap. Weaver (2001a,b) illustrates this by suggesting that most hunting excursions end without a kill being achieved and the experience of being ‘in the wild’ is valued just as highly by hunters as the hunting/kill element itself. Conversely he notes that non-consumptive wildlife experiences may include several forms of consumption such as the deterioration of the environment through erosion, trampling of vegetation and the establishment of facilities. He also suggests that the keeping of checklists of wildlife species is a form of consumption because once birders have checked off the species sighted it is no longer sought and is thus ‘consumed’. Other forms of consumption include that of fossil fuels and the purchase of material souvenirs, both of which require at least some degree of resource consumption. However, the authors agree with Duffus and Dearden (1990) who suggest that there is a fundamental difference between touristic activities which seek to destroy and remove an animal and those that do not (Box 1.1).

Box 1.1 Is fishing wildlife tourism?

An interesting debate has occurred over whether bill-fish fishing constitutes an ecotourism (or in this case, a wildlife tourism activity. Holland et al. (1998) explored the boundaries of ecotourism by suggesting that bill-fish ‘catch-and-release’ fishing was an ethical treatment of the fish and as such it could qualify to be classified as an ecotourism activity. This brought a response from Fennell (2000) who challenged this assertion and sugges...