By Samantha Roark, Member of the Wildlife Hub
The tourism industry brings amazing revenue to the human population, but how does it impact the animal population? The answer is that a lot of tourism causes significant disturbance to animals and their habitats. The constant intrusion of human habits often frightens wildlife, especially early in their life cycles. Social interaction between wild animals and humans creates a social change among animals, especially in reference to breeding and other animal relationships.
Additionally, the effects that human transportation can and has created for much of the animal population have made it hard for conservation specialists to keep rapidly dying breeds alive. A lot of the regular transportation that many think of is usually cars and airplanes but oftentimes even the establishment of a road can deter animals from establishing and/or finding their habitats. Something to keep in mind the next time you plan your vacation is the effects you may have on the wildlife between your destination and your home. Try to avoid feeding that squirrel or duck if you can.
Some facts to consider are that 4 million tourists who visit non-zoo tourist attractions involving wildlife are contributing to larger animal welfare issues than openly discussed among the general population. National organizations often find that 7% of world tourism relates to wildlife tourism, growing about 3% within the last decade. We need to be cognitive of how our tourism impacts wildlife and think about that more.
This is where organizations such as our very own Global Co Lab Network come into play! The teen-led wildlife conservation hub works to spread knowledge to the world in a fun and interactive way that makes topics interesting. The wildlife hub specifically finds common ground in our effort to educate and empower aspiring conservationists who just can’t seem to find the space to thoroughly help the crisis among the animal population.
Those who are interested in learning more or even joining our amazing wildlife team, please go to https://www.globalcolab.net/ and click on ‘Join our SDG Hubs’. I hope to meet and get to know some of you who may be reading this now!
