During this activity, the Prospectus really helped me understand what it was I was trying to do with the HCP, what I was suppose to achieve. Being able to free-write about what it is I want my audience to know about my topic made it easier for me to focus on specific aspects of my topic and the kinds of evidence that I would need to further convince my audience of the issue. The issue was something I became very passionate about as I continued to research it and talk about it so the Prospectus gave me a chance to put those thoughts into writing.

The Prospectus wasn't as difficult to write once I really thought about my topic but I did struggle a lot with the Annotated Bibliography. It wasn't very difficult to find information about wildlife tourism in popular sources but finding them in scholarly sources was a nightmare, especially when I narrowed my issue to a specific country (Thailand) and tried to stay with my original claims. Once I let my research guide my ideas and claims, it became a lot easier to find information.

Annie Wu

Writing 39C

Dr. Meghdadi/ Dr. Way

27 January, 2017

Part One: Prospectus

What has caused tourism to rise? How does this rise in tourism affect wild animals? What has been done to protect animals used as tourist attractions? These are a few of the guiding research questions about my topic. Tourism has risen in the past decade and continues to rise because it is a multi-billion-dollar industry that keeps many people, especially those living in developing countries, employed. Most, if not all, tourist destinations use animals as a form of entertainment and they acquire these animals by capturing them in the wild. They are first tamed and then trained to become tourist attractions but, sadly, not many of these poor animals are treated kindly. Instead, they are abused, used, and exploited for profit. Not much has been done to protect these animals, since many tourist destinations are located in developing countries where animals aren’t given any care or thought, so many become ill and/or die during their time as entertainment for tourists. This has become such a big issue because unfortunately, with the rise of tourism the number of captive animals forced into becoming attractions are also rising. It has increased the number of animals on the endangered list and decreased the survival rate of many others.

Animal rights activists would advocate for the freedom of all wild animals being kept at these tourist spots but there are many who would argue that tourism keeps economies afloat and without animal attractions, there would be a decline in the tourism industry. Although I do agree with the economists that tourism is definitely a main source of income for many nations so to them it is an important practice to keep alive, I would also agree with animal rights activists that the animals used to perform should be treated humanely. As neuroscientists have already declared after much research and study, animals do have consciousness and awareness. Thus, it would be unethical to abuse and exploit them the way that many do for profit. Safina’s ideas in Beyond Words connects directly to this idea. The ideas that animals have consciousness, that they feel and experience in addition to having self-awareness basically makes them human.

The use of animals for entertainment and performance spans decades and even centuries. In some countries like India, the use of elephants, specifically, have been used during festivals and many other traditional events. Although there originally used for traditional and religious purposes, they’ve evolved with the times and have begun to use them for profit. There are very few regulations that protect wild animals such as these because many people believed they had no consciousness and feelings. As nations began to develop, tourism rose as a way for them to raise funds and it has continued into the present as a main source of income for many. Because it has been such an old practice, tourism and wild animal attractions continue on today without much regulation but the Animal Rights Movement continues on as well.

Irresponsible tourism uses animals in a way that exploits them and mistreats them which has long-lasting physical and psychological/emotional effects. Elephants and tigers that are used and abused in Thailand’s tourist spots have shown signs have trauma and stress from the way they’ve been captured, tamed, and trained. Elephants go through a harsh form of training called “the crush” that basically crushes their spirits in order to make them more docile and submissive. Tigers held captive at the Tiger Temple by monks are captured at young ages, beaten, and drugged to make them less dangerous so that tourists can take pictures with them. Although tourists aren’t the ones harming these animals directly, they do play an important part by participating in the activities. Unfortunately, many of these tourists are naïve and uneducated about wild animals to understand that the activities they take part in, such as elephant rides or taking selfies with tigers, have detrimental effects on them that can eventually kill them.

The ideal audience for my writing on this topic would be the general audience, especially those who are animal lovers and advocates of animal rights. These people would care about this problem the most because knowing that tourism hurts wild animals for money would allow people to make better choices if they ever come across animal attractions that obviously abuse animals. I don’t think that much of the general public understand how animals used in performances and tourism are acquired and trained. They may think that the animals are treated like celebrities or, at the very least are taken care of, but it is the exact opposite. Educating everyone about the real treatment of these innocent animals may help people to choose more eco-friendly and sustainable tourism destinations and advocate for stricter regulations to help protect these abused animals.

I am very biased when it comes to animals and how they’re treated. I strongly believe that all animals are the same as you or myself; we all think, feel, and experience life. Because I feel this way about my topic, it has made me almost depressive at times when I must work on my research. Reading about all of the horrible things done to wild animals to make them profitable is not only inhumane but just plain evil. I knew about animal abuse and exploitation in animal enterprises, such as SeaWorld and the like, but I never knew that tourism was such a huge contributor to animal endangerment and extinction. I hope that my message not only raises awareness but also educates people on responsible tourism. I truly hope that my message makes people think twice when they go to places like Thailand where they offer elephant rides and pictures with chained up tigers. I hope that those people will refuse to take part in those activities, no matter how enticing.

Part Two: Annotated Bibliography

1. Works Cited:

Bale, Racheal. "Tourists Can't Tell If an Attraction Is Bad for Animals." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.

Higginbottom, Karen. Wildlife Tourism: Impacts, Management and Planning. Altona, Vic.: Common Ground, 2004. PDF.

Schaul, Jordan Carlton. "Conserving Wildlife Through Responsible Tourism: An Interview With Dr. Michael Hutchins." National Geographic Society (blogs). National Geographic, 01 July 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2017.

SOS, Wildlife. "The Connection Between Tourism and Elephant Abuse in India." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Aug. 2016. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.

2.

Background Sources:

Bale, Racheal. "Tourists Can't Tell If an Attraction Is Bad for Animals." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.

SOS, Wildlife. "The Connection Between Tourism and Elephant Abuse in India." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Aug. 2016. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.

Primary Sources

Higginbottom, Karen. Wildlife Tourism: Impacts, Management and Planning. Altona, Vic.: Common Ground, 2004. PDF.

Secondary Sources

SOS, Wildlife. "The Connection Between Tourism and Elephant Abuse in India." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Aug. 2016. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.

Schaul, Jordan Carlton. "Conserving Wildlife Through Responsible Tourism: An Interview With Dr. Michael Hutchins." National Geographic Society (blogs). National Geographic, 01 July 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2017.

3. Annotations:

• National Geographic: “Visitors Can’t Tell If a Tourist Attraction Is Bad for Animals” by

-        Researchers, led by conservation biologist Tom Moorhouse, compared 24 types of wildlife tourist attractions based on how the animals are treated to the thousands of evaluations of these attractions on TripAdvisor and found out that very few tourists were concerned for the animals’ safety and health in attractions that were the most concerning. The study also found out that every year, about 2 to 4 million tourists financially support wildlife attractions that neglect animal welfare and conservation.  This shows that tourists are just as naïve and uneducated about responsible tourism as I thought and this article was only published a couple of years ago on October 21 so the information should still be pretty accurate. The author Rachael Bale reports on wildlife crime and exploitation for Wildlife Watch, a part of National Geographic’s Special Investigations Unit.

• The Huffington Post: “The Connection Between Tourism and Elephant Abuse in India”

-        The author of the article is a nonprofit rescue and conservation charity in South Asia that advocates for the humane treatment and rehabilitation of elephants. The article talks about the under-publicized treatment of elephants in India where elephants are brutally trained to give rides to tourists. The charity has found that over 95% of India’s wild elephants have been exterminated just over the last century due to these “traditional” practices. This really shows how the training of these animals for tourism attractions are under-publicized. We hear about the performances, sure, but we don’t know enough about what happens to them before these animals take the stage. The facts and statistics in this article are fairly new since it was published just last year on August 16.

• Wildlife Tourism: Impacts, Management, and Planning

-        The book gives a lot of information on wildlife tourism impacts, how they are managed in the past and currently that causes a number of effects, and how these tourist places can plan to be more sustainable and conservative. I think the purpose of this article is for tour operators and managers to stay up to date on information that can help their attractions be more eco-friendly. One of the biggest impacts that tourism has on wildlife that is discussed here is the human interaction as a stimulus that affects them. With just the mere presence of humans is a stressor to wild animals that make them change their behavior in many ways. For example, it can cause animals’ heart rates to increase which then triggers an increases in food consumption and leads to less prey/food. The editor, Karen Higginbottom is a wildlife tourism consultant and adjunct senior lecturer at Griffith University, Australia. The book was first published in 2004 so the information may be a bit dated but still holds a massive amount of information useful for research.

• National Geographic: Conserving Wildlife Through Responsible Tourism: An Interview with Dr. Michael Hutchins

-        The article is a based on an interview conducted by the author with Dr. Michael Hutchins who is a distinguished conservationist and noted authority on wildlife management and policy. The interview discusses the history of wildlife tourism and the impacts that it has on the environment over the years. There’s a section of the article where they discuss the impact that human activities have on animals and the regulations that are imposed to protect wildlife. Some countries like in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador tourists aren’t allowed on the islands without a trained guide. This section has great information on a number of regulations that countries have and it was published on July 1, 2014 so it’s still pretty accurate information. 

4. Reflection:

            I think that most of the ideas and information that I’m getting from my sources are the negative impacts of wildlife tourism and that the animal-human interactions have many detrimental effects on the animals and the environment. There are a couple of sources that have mentioned some positive impacts but those are very few because most of the tourism industry practices irresponsible tourism. Many of the animal rights organizations like World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and PETA are mentioned in the articles I’ve read but I’m not sure which ones do more or less so I may need to explore that further. I’ve focused so much of my research on the negative impacts of wildlife tourism and regulations that I forget there are some positive impacts until a couple of my sources mentioned them. I should also look into how we can restructure the tourism industry in a way that benefits the environment and the people relying on tourism for income because regulations can only do so much and they have a restricting effect on the communities who rely on tourism.

I feel that there is still so much that I need to research on. The one peer reviewed book that I have as my primary source has so much information to read through (300 pages) that I’ve spent most of my time trying to go through it all to understand the impacts that wildlife tourism has and how we can plan a more sustainable version as a possible solution to ending the exploitation of wild animals. I think that I definitely need to look into the impacts that the tourism industry has on the animals more because after reading through some of my sources, I’ve learned that they become so stressed from being kept captive that they go into a rampage and kill people. More information on how their behaviors change will help me understand what kinds of training work better for the animals in order to find more possible solutions to the issue.

Unfortunately, I have not had much luck finding at least 4-6 scholarly sources so maybe it’s time I give the library a visit in an attempt to find some more information. I’ll probably also keep trying to find more peer reviewed articles online using JSTOR and ProQuest. So far, I think that the few sources I have are credible and relevant for an academic essay because they’re all written or contain information contributed by animal rights organizations or experts on conservation and wildlife sustainability and tourism.