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Pitfalls of tourism in wilderness areas
Mohan Alembath
As ecotourism in wilderness areas booms and cash registers ring, we tend to forget a grave danger being posed to wildlife. Habituation is causing serious health related problems to wildlife. In India no serious study has been done, but we have enough studies from abroad sending danger signals, pointing to an urgent need to do germane studies in the Indian context.
Last year International Journal of Primatology reported that tourism was causing changes in primate behaviour and could be a causative factor for infant mortality. This report was the result of a 19-year study, “Primate Tourism, Range Restriction and Infant Risk Among Macaca thibetana at Mt. Huangshan, China,” led by anthropologist Carol Berman of University of Buffalo. She reports: “Overhabituation and hyperaggression often result in changes in the primates’ habitat activity patterns and communicative behaviour.”
Disease transmission
Disease transmission from human beings is another great risk. Scientists in the Chobe National Park, Botswana, have documented how tuberculosis was passed on to mongooses leading to two outbreaks of the disease in the Park. Mongooses picked up the illness from contaminated rubbish heaps left in the Park by careless tourists.
The mite sarcoptes scabiei, which causes mange in furry animals and scabies in humans, has been passed on to gorillas by careless, indolent tourists. People sometimes leave clothes behind, and curious gorillas play with them and presto disease is passed on unwittingly. Researchers have shown that penguins that are incubating eggs have abandoned their eggs due to hyper tourism activity.
Deliberate feeding of food to wildlife is another area of concern. This tends to alter natural behaviour patterns. In some cases it has also resulted in the dependency of animals on the human provided food. Intra and inter species aggression has also occurred where wildlife, in their mad rush to obtain food, have harmed one another, and harmed tourists. We have several documented cases, in India, of monkeys turning aggressive as a result of tourist feeding.
Areas like Rajamali tourism zone in the Eravikulam National Park which harbour endangered animals need greater attention. The animals have become highly habituated and there is at least one documented case of Nilgiri Tahr licking human urine. In Rajamalai, the authorities were quick to realise the danger and now tourists are allowed access only by department vehicles. Park watchers keep tabs on the activities of the visitors.
Research done in the Murchison National Park by U.S. scientists has come up with the finding that the vegetation trampled by tourists deviating from ordained paths took 20 years to get back to a semblance of original vegetation. We have a similar case in Eravikulam where grass scraped for experimental purposes took nearly 20 years to establish. This is a portent for areas like the Valley of Flowers where the tourist inflow is going up by leaps and bounds.
All said and done the facts enumerated above should not act as a damper on developing genuine ecotourism programmes. Ecotourism is a great way to ensure community participation in conservation and benefits wildlife and local community, with sagacious planning. The rider: strict code of conduct has to be in place for tourists. Unbridled tourism sans proper checks and balances has no place in wilderness areas.
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