Animal Tourism

The world is an amazing place. For such a lot of reasons. One of which is the incredible biodiversity that we humans are the tiniest part of. There are astonishing animals spread all over the world. And for those of us who come from a place that doesn’t contain a particular animal or animals, it is a delight going somewhere where those strange, weird, odd, beautiful, scary, majestic creatures live.

I’m an Aussie, and if there is one thing we do not lack in Australia, it is weird and wonderful animals. I saw a platypus in the wild once and am still excited by the memory! I have lived in the UK for quite some time but I still giggle when I see a squirrel. They are everywhere in the UK, but the novelty has not yet worn off.

Many people when they travel to Asia or Africa go in search of animals – lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), rhinos, crocodiles, zebra, etc. I must say, I got very excited by animals in Africa – penguins!!!

I’m not really a big animal lover (other than squirrels and penguins). I don’t wish them harm, I’m just not an animal lover. I’m happy they exist, but I don’t particularly want to experience them up close (even squirrels and penguins).

Animal tourism however, is an interesting thing. And I’m a bit torn by it. I guess I always have been since going to zoos as a child. On the one hand, it is nice to be able to see interesting animals in real life (not to take anything away from David Attenborough). However, there is something about wild animals in captivity that doesn’t sit right (even if they are being well-looked after). On the third hand, a lot of excellent animal management and research can happen when some humans work closely with some animals. Animal conservation parks can be a great way for communities to support and manage wild populations of animals for the protection of both the animals and the humans. It turns out that when humans encroach upon traditional animal habitats, the animals get a bit annoyed and then encroach in return on the human habitats – who knew?

When well-managed conservation parks become tourist attractions, they can provide a financial incentive for local populations to conserve the animals. This might outweigh the financial incentive that might exist to poach the animals for food, medicine, trophies, etc. And I believe that management is certainly better than poaching!

However, some operators of animal tourism destinations don’t always treat the animals with the care they deserve. Tigers get drugged and placed in the most photogenic place for the tourists. Elephants get hit and shackled in order that they can safely have a harness put on them so people can ride them; or so that they can ‘dance’; or so they can bend and offer flowers to ‘worship at a temple’; etc.

I went to an elephant sanctuary in Kerala with some volunteers who really wanted to ride an elephant because they really love elephants. Now, again, I’m a little bit torn by this. I understand why loving an animal would make you want to get closer to it, but I also understand that a human riding an elephant probably wasn’t the elephant’s idea so it is likely to involve some discomfort, pain, irritation, etc to the elephant. And I don’t know why people who love elephants would want to do that to the elephant. In the case of this particular visit to this particular elephant sanctuary, we went there only to discover that it was a holiday for the elephants (the one day of the year when the elephants don’t give rides). So the volunteers were initially quite upset that they couldn’t ride the elephants. But we were still allowed to wander around and see the elephants. The volunteers were then quite upset at seeing the elephants being chained up, having electric cattle prods used on them, being beaten etc. I guess what I’m not sure of is how the volunteers thought the elephants were complicit in the riding without the shackling and beating. But perhaps they just didn’t think about it, or assumed that whatever would make the elephants compliant would be a kindness to the elephants.

In Chitwan, here in Nepal, there are some elephants who routinely walk down the main street with a mahout (the rider / trainer / driver) and often a seat for tourists to also be able to ride. I was watching this with another volunteer who has worked with animals on conservation projects before. So the interesting thing is that I think other tourists watch this and see an elephant (with lovely chalk paintings on its face) walking down the middle of the street and see this as exotic and exciting and wondrous. I guess this from the looks on their faces which I can almost see peering out from behind their cameras as they ooh and aah and take photos. I see the ropes and the chains and the tarmac road and think that this is absolutely not what the elephants would probably choose to do if they were given a choice in the matter. The other volunteer I was with also saw what I saw and also commented that what we see isn’t what others see. These elephants are chained up overnight in an enclosure by the road our guest house was on, so we would see them in the evening. They have a very big pile of hay and a corrugated iron roof structure over them and they are chained up. Personally, I don’t find this exotic and wonderous and a lovely thing. I don’t know why the roof is there (elephants aren’t water-soluble so rain isn’t likely to bother them too much; it only covers them from sun in the middle of the day when they aren’t there, because they are walking around the national park giving rides to tourists; I imagine it is actually quite hot underneath the roof later in the evening and I don’t imagine that is particularly comfortable – I don’t imagine it was the elephants who requested the roof).

By the way, the seat on the back of an elephant is called a howdah and some people criticise its use because they claim there is evidence that it can cause damage to the spine and lungs of the elephant.

I do also know that there are some projects that rescue animals from harm (elephants used by the logging industry in Sri Lanka for example) and rely on tourists for manpower (volunteers who work on site) and for funding (entry fees and donations). I also think that lots of the people who do go to other countries for animal tourism are doing it with the absolute best of intentions, with open hearts, and that they really appreciate the experiences they have and the wonder of getting close to incredible fauna (or just seeing it out the window of the jeep, etc).

As a result of all of this, I have slightly mixed feelings about animal tourism. I understand that animals are a draw for tourists and with tourism comes money which can help support local economies and with tourism comes an increased awareness of countries that people night not know a lot about otherwise. With tourism comes cultural exchange which can be helpful for both parties. However, animal tourism seems to come at the cost of the welfare of the animals, even in the instances when the animals are well-looked after. I guess I think that ethical animal tourism is better than unethical animal tourism, I’m just not sure how much better it is.