The effects of non-consumptive wildlife tourism on free-ranging wildlife: a review

Abstract

Tourism based on free-ranging animals is economically important, but there are no comprehensive studies on the overall balance of its negative and positive effects on wildlife. However, there is a growing body of information on which we can draw for minimizing negative effects and enhancing positive ones. Major categories of negative effects include: direct injury and death; disruption of activities or increase in stress levels; and loss or modification of habitat. About half the published research literature on negative effects involves relatively conspicuous avian species, and there is a need for further research on other taxa. Major categories of positive effects include financial and practical contributions by tourists and tourism operators, economic incentives for wildlife conservation (acting through local communities, the tourism industry and governments) and environmental education. There is far less information on positive than on negative effects, and research is required to examine this quantitatively. However, the evidence suggests there is considerable unrealized potential for wildlife tourism to provide substantial conservation benefits.

Upland development, climate-related risk and institutional conditions for adaptation in Vietnam

“…This higher kill-ratio reflects an interesting fault line between bird feeding and game feeding. Where the former is linked to promoting values of conservation (Green and Higginbottom 2000), the latter appears to cultivate a stronger predation ethic (Dunkley and Cattet 2003).…”

An appetite for connection: why we need to understand the effect and value of feeding wild birds

“…One of the reasons that many are concerned is that the practice of feeding has been associated with an alarming array of effects on the birds and the environment more generally (Green and Higginbottom 2000;Orams 2002). These include the spread of disease, nutritional imbalances, enhancement of introduced or unpopular species, increased aggression, the creation of 'ecological traps', increases in unpopular species, including vermin, and, most frequently mentioned, the possibility of dependency on anthropogenic foods (Anderson et al 1997;O'Leary and Jones 2006).…”

Farmer-wildlife conflicts in rural areas of eastern Zambia

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