RE: Do wildlife tourism actually make people want to conserve nature? A new study suggest that it does!
Does wildlife tourism actually make people want to conserve nature?
The most abundant wildlife I have seen is in national parks both private and public. Both of which get the majority of their funding and guidance from tourists.
People never forget an interaction with a "wild" animal. For me my love of nature started with a elephant encounter (Scary at the time).
If people have never been exposed to wildlife it is unreasonable for them to care for it. I think wildlife tourism should not only be encouraged I think it should be compulsory in the education system.
Very interesting to see that shark cage diving does the same.
I have lived in Fish Hoek, Cape Town where they chum (put blood in the water) to attract Great whites to the cage and there has been a massive increase in shark attacks, which gives it a bad name. Although i could easily be due to over fishing also
That's a good point. But I'm not sure I agree completely. While I have never seen a shark in my life I still care a lot about the conservation of them, so it's not necessarily needed to interact with all animals. I believe that some species are best left of to stay wild, but eh, that's just my opinion on the matter. Wildlife tourism certainly has a lot of positive aspects as well, and I have personally begun my interest in biology because I loved seeing animals when I was a child.
Wow, that's one thing that had not crossed my mind. I guess it might not be such a smart idea to have these shark cages close to places where people swim or surf..
PS. sorry for not answering sooner! Some of my comments got buried in my Replies feed, so I forgot all about them.