We live in the day when tourism is blooming, entertainment and travel serve as blended concepts, exploration of new cultural heritages attract popular interest and the industry itself provides for the economic growth of a country. Tourism has been a boon for the modern day; a boon that depends on the natural and historical niches that a region already possesses, an asset of sorts that enhances and often promotes globalization. To be able to unplug from daily routine existence and put all that saved money to use; an escape that is no less of a dream to many of us who set work as the ultimate duty of life, who can but only imagine a holiday that takes us into a different parts of the world, allowing us to experience nature at its best, beautiful landscapes and a first-hand view of the gifts of history, a plausible one-on-one interaction with the beasts of nature. Somewhere within this rich domain lies the ever-growing industry of wildlife tourism characterized by the availability of customized packages that allow close access to wildlife.

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Interacting with exotic species enclosed within allegedly monitored safe environments built rather with the exclusive aim of protecting animal-human interaction in the name of eco-tourism is what wildlife tourism essentially promises. But whether this is directed to the best interest of the animals is a question that would lead even an ignorant explorer of answers into the world of cruel practices and exploitation that surely would have a heart-wrenching experience to guarantee.

That’s what people do when they find a special place that wild and full of life, they trample it to death.

― Carl Hiaasen

An essential testimony to the kind of caricature that eco-tourism has become a method, with the sole purpose of generating economic wealth, numerous number of eco-resorts have sprung up in natural grasslands or even in areas that make it difficult for animals to move freely in their own habitats, taking away major portions of land that rightfully belong to them. It’s an intrusion that leads to a true muddle among nature’s subjects.

In the words of Mary Taylor Young in The Guide to Colorado Mammals, one must “remember that even just watching animals has an impact. Intrusion into their living space can expose them to predation, keep them from feeding or other essential activities, or cause them to leave their young exposed to predation or the elements. No photo or viewing opportunity is worth harassing or stressing wildlife. In appreciating and watching them, we have a responsibility to protect and preserve the animals that share our state.”

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To offer an extension on the harsh state of affairs in the field of animal welfare that more often than not, fails to protect its own cause, one could look into the cruelty practiced in the country of Thailand; a country gifted with a diverse array of animal species but really fails miserably to celebrate or even respect it. One subject of popular tourist attraction in the country is an Orangutan boxing match which is preceded by individual performances wherein the trainers are often seen hitting at the back of the arboreal great ape’s head, forcing the mammal to do things as absurd as dancing to Hawaii music with leaves tied around their waist or perform amusing tasks at the command of the trainer. The country also harbors a terrace zoo within a mall which presents a display of monkeys who have been captivated within small and ill-maintained cages for as long as twenty years or more.

What tourists don’t often realize is that behind the use of wild beasts as “photo-props” lies the true harshness of reality wherein the animals are taken out of their wildlife existence and forced to conform to a life that is excruciatingly far from what is natural. They are trained to be turned into cash cows that fuel the illegal industry of animal trade. Who wouldn’t want to share a photograph with the king of the jungle and hold it as a testament of pride, an attestation to one’s daring spirit even if it costs a few bucks? The price is worth the experience, right? Well honestly, no. The Tigers are sedated and drugged to force calmness onto them, a “high” that is anything but legally administered. In fact, the growing tourist interest in tiger cubs has often been a major impetus to the phenomena of tiger farming; tigers are inbred without the consideration of risks with accordance to tourist flow during particular timings of the year.

The picture is widely displeasing; it’s a mirror to the sorry state of affairs.

Rampantly gruesome is the torture that elephants are subjected to in order to make them eligible to be ridden. Young elephant calves are captured, often followed by the killing of its mother. The captured calf is then coerced into a rigorous training routine by their mahouts that aims at breaking the young mammal’s spirit, tied up and harassed in every possible inhumane manner that bears the message that humans are to be feared and their commands to be religiously followed.

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All of us have visited the circus at some point of time, and as kids, being audience to a large four-legged beauty with a trunk perform majestic tasks as directed by the magician’s wand was a spectacular occurrence, much to our own folly. Have we ever looked into how they are treated or how they are poked with nails and spears, with legs tied together by chains for most of their life restricting any movement at all, the blinding lights of the circus stage often impairing their vision and the dangerous performances often harming their body? Has the industry ever really bothered about the enormous, intelligent, sociable and strong animals being reduced to puppets inflicted with pain without any consideration of its psychologically isolating impact? Why does tourism so freely thrive upon such ill-treatment? Why the animal welfare laws are so loosely defined that even lawful officials fail to understand and exercise their power to tackle the illegal cruelty practiced widely against wildlife?

These are questions an honest conservationists have often been compelled to bring to the forefront and yet wildlife tourism continues to thrive in leaps and bounds.

It’s safe to say that tourists should perhaps take it in their own hands to indulge in the protection of animal rights. High time that wildlife finds its voice in ours.