The different faces of wildlife tourism

The most common form of wildlife tourism is a safari. Whether on foot or by car, travelers explore special conservation areas and national parks. In many places, revenue from park entries is used to pay trained rangers to protect the animals from poachers. Nevertheless, it is important that sensitive ecosystems and their wildlife are not overburdened by the visit of too many tourists. Often, however, not all local populations benefit from tourism revenue. Due to the high price range, local residents may not be able to afford the entrance fee of protected areas or national parks. As a result, there is a risk that the relationship with the local wildlife might get lost. On the other hand, the growing market for bushmeat and traditional Chinese medicine is a tempting source of income. Killing by poachers is therefore on the rise in general and especially in the current era when income from tourism is collapsing. Nevertheless, high-priced safari tourism can also be seen as an opportunity for the conservation of rare and endangered wild species. A positive example of this is the impact of tourism on the conservation of mountain gorillas in Uganda. Thanks to the relatively expensive park entry for people who are not from East Africa^[1], effective protection of the primates by rangers as well as veterinarians could be funded, and the population was able to recover.^[2]

In addition to safaris, however, other touristic activities are offered that are often on the edge of legality or even illegal. Exotic animals are taken from their natural habitat and become mentally broken in order to display certain behaviors or endure things that they would never allow in the wild. A well-known example is elephant riding. Most tourists are not aware that the frequent claims that the elephants come from circuses or were rescued injured from the wild are simply not true, but that the animals are only captured for tourist purposes. In addition, they are inflicted with pain using special elephant hooks ^[3], to make them obey their captors. At night, the pachyderms are chained. Another example is walking young lions, which are often discarded when they are two or three years old and sold to trophy hunters to be shot.^[4] Drugging wild cats in order to make the animals calm enough to be petted by tourists is also a common practice. The tiger temple in Thailand, which received much media attention a few years ago, operated similarly. After the young tigers were snatched from their mothers and accustomed directly to humans by bottle rearing, they were initially used for tourist purposes. If the animals then became too large and thus dangerous to humans, they were killed. Bones, flesh, and skins were then sold for a lot of money, as parts of the tiger’s body are considered to increase potency in traditional Chinese medicine^[5].