Just like the HCP Prospectus and Annotated Bibliography, I was able to use this to organize my thoughts about the kind of information I needed to get across to my audience and why. This Prospectus was very useful in helping me think about the kinds of warrants I wanted to use, which was very important since the objective of the AP paper was to convince the audience that the policies I discussed were the best ways to tackle the issue of animal abuse and exploitation in Thailand's wildlife tourism.

I had some trouble finding good sources and information on certain policies, like legislation (my original policy), so instead I discussed why legislation would not be a feasible and better solution than wildlife conservation centers. The policy that I had focused on in the beginning turned out to not be the best so once I found a better policy, I began researching information on it but also information on why legislations fail. What could have been a disaster, not being able to find information on a policy, turned into a lengthy counterargument once I found a better policy.

Annie Wu

Writing 39C

Dr. Way

21 February, 2017

Part One: Prospectus

            Some guiding questions about how to solve or approach my issue will be questions like: “how can governments improve animal welfare in countries that rely on wildlife tourism?” “why is the preservation of wildlife essential to the tourism industry?” and “how can regulations impact animals and their welfare in the industry?” Although there are some regulations that provide animals with humane treatment in the United States, many countries with an emphasis in wildlife tourism do not. Instead, they kidnap animals from the wild as babies then train and tame them using harsh torture methods that include starvation and physical abuse. Thus, I wanted to look at potential solutions for developing countries that rely so heavily on this kind of industry, mainly Thailand. I think that some potential answers would definitely be more regulations but also incentives for communities where these business and attractions operate so that they are more aware of how they treat their animals.

            I think that aside from my instructor, peers, and the general audience I would like to address my ideas to governments in countries that rely on wildlife tourism, in hopes that they realize there are ways to continue their way of life that keeps their economies afloat while also being ethical about the treatment of animals. Many Animal Rights organizations and non-profit groups are invested in solving this issue, including World Animal Protection and World Wildlife Fund. Governments and tourists need extra motivation because they have such an egocentric mind that they may not realize the kind of abuse animals suffer through to “preform” and make a profit. Both contribute to this problem as well because governments tend to overlook certain unethical practices if it means generating a sizable profit for their country and tourists tend to be ignorant of the animal abuse if it meant that they get a chance to ride an elephant or take selfies with tigers.

            I would expect my ideal audience to have prior knowledge of this issue and current debate and ideas because wildlife tourism is nothing new. Animals have been used as entertainment and tourist attractions for decades so governments must know how these animals are being treated, especially if their training techniques are considered “traditional” in its country. Unfortunately, despite all of the sufferings of the animals, governments and countries allow it to happen because animal attractions are what brings in tourists who spend their money and contribute to the country’s economy. As long as they believe that money will keep coming into their countries, they won’t realize animal should be treated humanely or animal ethics matter because all they will see is the green. I hope that my audience will have a positive response to my arguments by realizing that the ideas I present can be implemented and can help both the economies and the animals. I would like governments to take notice of this issue and give it more attention by creating regulations and community incentives to treat animals better.

            I think that being able to appeal to the audiences’ ethics, emotions, and logic and having credible information that can back up my ideas would compel them the most. I want my audience to perceive me a logical and reasonable person with ideas that can are practical because the audience is an informed but skeptical audience whom may not believe the ideas can be a success. Some motivational warrants that would best link my evidence and claims and create a powerful effect in my audience would probably be honor/virtue, progress, practicality, and necessity. I’m sure that one counterargument to my solution of more regulations would be that they restrict tourism, and although I do agree with that because wildlife tourism is a main source of income for some developing countries, I think there are some ideas that can assist these new restrictions. One idea that may address this counterargument is government subsidies that can help cover the cost of necessities that the regulations may increase in an effort to help with animal welfare and health.

Part Two: Annotated Bibliography

1. HCP Annotations:

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

-        Background/Secondary Source: 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.

-        I will probably use this as a background source in the AP since it gives a lot of information about the use of elephants in the tourism industry and their treatment but I might also want to use it as an exhibit source for when I use an honor/virtue motivational warrant to back up a claim

• 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

-        Secondary Source: 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. 

-        I will most likely use this as part of my argument because it gives a lot of information about the impacts of the wildlife industry and also what kinds of regulations that some places have already implemented in an effort to combat the negative impacts.

2. New Sources: (Highlighted = Old Sources)

AAA Legal Advisors. "Thailand Passes New Animal Rights Legislation." Thailand Passes New Animal Rights Legislation. Advanced Adjusting Associates Co. Ltd, 16 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2017. <http://www.aaacoth.com/2015/legal-news/thailand-passes-new-animal-rights-legislation/>.

"Exposed: True Scale of Thailand's 'tiger Selfie' Tourism." World Animal Protection International. World Animal Protection, 25 July 2016. Web. 21 Feb. 2017. <https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/news/exposed-true-scale-thailands-tiger-selfie-tourism>.

Fennell, David A. "Exploring the Boundaries of a New Moral Order for Tourism's Global Code of Ethics: An Opinion Piece on the Position of Animals in the Tourism Industry." Journal of Sustainable Tourism 22.7 (2014): 983-96. Web. 24 Feb. 2017. Peer

Ghosh, Nirmal. "Thailand Introduces New Laws to Tackle Animal Cruelty." The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co., 22 Feb. 2016. Web. 24 Feb. 2017. <http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/thailand-introduces-new-laws-to-tackle-animal-cruelty>.

"US Travel Site Inspired by Our TripAdvisor Breakthrough Stops Selling Tickets to Cruel Wildlife Venues." World Animal Protection International. World Animal Protection, 31 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Feb. 2017. <https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/news/us-travel-site-inspired-our-tripadvisor-breakthrough-stops-selling-tickets-cruel-wildlife>.

"Wildlife Tourism Australia Policies, Guidelines and Best Practice." Wildlife Tourism Australia. Wildlife Tourism Australia, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2017. <http://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/conservation/policies/>.

3. Categories:

• Background

-        "Exposed: True Scale of Thailand's 'tiger Selfie' Tourism." World Animal Protection

• Exhibit

-        "Wildlife Tourism Australia Policies, Guidelines and Best Practice." Wildlife Tourism Australia

-        "US Travel Site Inspired by Our TripAdvisor Breakthrough Stops Selling Tickets to Cruel Wildlife Venues." World Animal Protection International

-        "Thailand Passes New Animal Rights Legislation."

• Argument

-        "Wildlife Tourism Australia Policies, Guidelines and Best Practice." Wildlife Tourism Australia

-        "US Travel Site Inspired by Our TripAdvisor Breakthrough Stops Selling Tickets to Cruel Wildlife Venues." World Animal Protection International

-        "Exposed: True Scale of Thailand's 'tiger Selfie' Tourism." World Animal Protection

4. Annotations:

• "Thailand Passes New Animal Rights Legislation"

-        The name of the author isn’t given; however, the article is written by a Thai legal advising firm to inform people of some new wildlife regulations. It was probably for those who may run into legal troubles if they owned a wildlife attraction and was not aware of the new regulations. The firm states that it is “a first step in the right direction, but remains a work in progress” because the legislation does exempt traditional and religious killing of animals, including but not limited to Thailand local customs like animal fights. The laws and its details were passed by the National Legislative Assembly in Thailand; was fought for by the Thai Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (TSPCA). The firm seems to be mostly objective since its purpose is to give information about recent laws but the tone of the short article did seem in favor of the regulations and more pro-animal rights. I will be using this article to talk about current regulations/legislations in place that may or may not work and whether other ideas would better address the issue than these current ideas. The article was written in January of 2015 so the information is quite recent. However, it does mention other earlier laws that went into effect before it was written/published.

• "Exposed: True Scale of Thailand's 'tiger Selfie' Tourism" – World Animal Protection

-        The author is an editor for the World Animal Protection non-profit organization although the article does mention a Julie Middelkoop, who is the head of “Wildlife – Not Entertainers” campaign. The organization is devoted to helping animals escape exploitation and abusive environments, worldwide. It collaborates with a number of United Nations bodies, such as the UN Environment Programme and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and persuades their audience to help in the fight for animal rights because they believe that helping animals helps people since we rely so much on them for food and many other resources. The organization investigates the entertainment venues, interviews animal attraction staff members, and gain information through reports from the UN bodies. They found that as the tiger entertainment industry increases in popularity, more tigers end up in captivity in a tourist attraction. The tigers are separated their mothers as cubs then spend their entire lives in the attractions being abused and develop behavioral problems due to the stressful environment. I will be using this article for my arguments because it describes how these wild animals are exploited and treated without regulations. Tourists and tourist attractions either don’t care or don’t realize how these animals develop psychological problems trying to cope with all of the stress of human interactions everyday then being starved and housed in small cages when the day is done. This article was published last July on World Animal Protection’s News so it is also pretty recent.

• "US Travel Site Inspired by Our TripAdvisor Breakthrough Stops Selling Tickets to Cruel Wildlife Venues" – World Animal Protection

-        The author of this article is another editor of World Animal Protection (the same group from the previous article), although a specific name isn’t given. The organization information is listed in the annotated article above this. Recently, TripAdvisor committed to protecting animals by refusing to sell tickets to tourism destinations that practice animal abuse. This article talks about another American travel company, Your African Safari, that contacted World Animal Protection for advice and support in making the same bold move of refusing to sell tickets to certain destinations. It shows the comments from both, the founder of Your African Safari and the wildlife campaign manager form WAP, and describes the steps taken to help preserve and protect animals. I will be using this article as an exhibit to talk about possible steps that many travel companies and governments can take to help decrease animal abuse in tourism if regulations are not able to be created. The article was published on WAP less than a month ago, in January, so the information is very new.

• "Wildlife Tourism Australia Policies, Guidelines and Best Practice" – Wildlife Tourism Australia

-        The author is not specified on this article so I would assume that it is an editor of the Wildlife Tourism Australia association. It is a nonprofit incorporated association founded in 2003 with an elected committee that meets monthly from all over Australia that promote wildlife conservation and the development of sustainable wildlife tourism. Since this organization does promote wildlife conservation, it obviously will be biased in its beliefs and perspectives; in favor of animal rights and conservation. Its articles are informative but also try to persuade its audience into taking steps necessary to help with the cause and to raise awareness. The article itself is a list of policies and steps that the association has produced to advise others on wildlife conservation and sustainability. It gives information from a book on Wildlife Tourism (by David Newsome et al.) and uses it as a kind of guideline on these policies for wildlife tourism businesses, such as guidelines to help with the planning and management of wildlife encounters, and policies on various types of wildlife attractions, such as trails and whaling. I will definitely be using this as information for my arguments on policies that can be implemented and benefit both animals and governments/countries. Unfortunately, this article does not give a publication date but maybe that’s because these policies are not time sensitive but since the association was founded in 2003, we can correctly assume these policies were published some time after that year.

5. Reflective Outline:

My old and new sources give a lot of historical information on the issue I had presented in my HCP and new policies that can impact the future of the issue. Although my information/research so far only addresses my guiding questions and issue of animal abuse and exploitation in wildlife tourism, it can address the larger questions of animal ethics by giving the audience a look at very specific kinds of animal abuse and why it continues on. Sometimes, we tend to see problems and here about them in such a generalized way we don’t really understand how big of an issue it is and how often it happens.

My sources offer background information so that readers can understand what the issue is, the scope of the problem, and how it has become so popular but my other sources offer information on its impacts (good and bad), possible solutions to address the problem, and counterarguments that some may have. Most of my sources come from a variety of non-profit organizations that devote all of their time, money, and effort into advocating for animal rights and welfare so they are very credible and convincing. The kinds of objectives they create for themselves and their members, in addition to their enormous goals and ideas, will surely help me establish a strong and persuasive tone that helps my audience understand my stance on this issue and why I advocate for the chosen solutions.

I think that I still need to research more about current policies that are in place to protect animals used in attractions and how much of an impact they were now that I have various ideas of possible steps and legislation policies that can be implemented as solutions. I will probably take a look at government websites to find more of this information or even local newspapers that may have reported them. The resources I have been using seem sufficient enough since I have not had a lot of problems finding information, although I have not physically gone to the libraries in search of physical books for information. I have not found any scholarly sources yet so I will be looking for those five new ones in addition to these current popular sources in order to have the ten sources I need for the AP. I think that I will continue to search online databases for the new sources I need left but my current sources all seem credible, relevant, and appropriate since they come from non-profit organizations.