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Question: Discuss about the Impact of Tourism on Wildlife. Answer: Introduction The term tourism can be defined as a travel for the purpose of business or pleasure. The theory of touring, the business that is a result of constant travel, accommodating guests, their entertainment and the task of operating tours is also involved in this term (Hong, 2015).Tourism can involve both international and domestic travelling. Tourism is a growing industry and for many countries, it is a major source of livelihood and income. Tourism tends to involve the economy of both the host country and the source country. Due to the economic slowdown in the period 2007-2008, tourism suffered a great blow. Terrorism, the outbreak of influenza virus and other such activities also played a role in affecting tourism. Tourism involves travelling places that vary from metropolitan cities, villages, beaches, mountain ranges or jungles and wildlife (Ivanov Webster 2012). This report is based on the impact of tourism on wildlife. Wildlife tourism involves observation and interacting with the local plant as well as animal life in their natural habitat. Although this kind of tourism includes eco and friendly tourism, hunting and other high intervention activities also tend to fall under the umbrella of wildlife tourism (Onofri, Nunes, 2013). In simple terms, wildlife tourism can be described as the interaction of humans with wild animals and other marine animals in their own habitat (Dann Chambers, 2013). This interaction is done in various ways, which range from active methods like hunting to passive methods like photography. In various countries like Canada, Australia, Africa, South America, Malaysia and Maldives, wildlife tourism forms and important part of the tourism industry. Recently, this sector has witnesss tremendous growth. Figure 1: Wildlife Safari disturbs parents-offspring relationship (Source: Hall Page, 2014) Water based activities in tourism like cruises, boats, fiving, water bike and others have become an important part of various tourist packages. These tend to interact with the marine animals and affect them adversely (Hall Page, 2014).This report throws light on the impacts of tourism on the wildlife including both animals in the terrestrial environment as well as in the marine. It highlights both the positive effects as well as the negative effects of tourism on these thereby underlying the harm to the life of these animals (Goeldner Ritchie, 2012). The various difficulties in the measurement of the impact of tourism have also been discussed along with the precautionary principle to their management. Impacts of tourism on wildlife Tourism has various impacts on the wildlife existence, some of which have been discussed below: Negative Impacts Wildlife tourism can cause disturbances to animals in their natural habitat. Tourism activities, which tend to based on minimal or no direct contact to the wildlife, tend to affect their lives adversely (Thurstan et al., 2012). The growing interest in being closer to the nature has boosted the resort and hotel constructions, particularly in the forests (Buckley, 2012). Taking the example of Kenya it can be said that the wildlife observing activities tend to drive the cheetah population way from their reserves, which increases the risk of inbreeding, and further endangers their species. Some specified negative impacts have been given below Effect on Breeding and feeding patterns The tourists who visit these places for photography or a hunt can affect the feeding patterns as well as the hunting of some species. An increase in the boat traffic in Manu National Park in Peru greatly disturbs the feeding of the giant otters (Kerlinger et al., 2013). Tourist guides often tend to dig up the nests of the turtle and tend to chase the swimming animals in order to provide the client with better opportunities of coming close to the nature. In Zimbabwe, the noise that tourists generate has had an effect on the drinking and feedback patterns of animals like the black rhinoceros and elephants (Lucrezi, Saayman van der Merwe, 2013). Figure 2: Tourism affects breeding and feeding patterns of the animals(Source: Murphy, 2013). Parent offspring bonds are disrupted The wildlife tourism also tends to have an effect on intra relationships between the animals. It has been observed that when these animals are observed by a group of tourists, they tend to spend less time with their offsprings (Hughes, 2013). Whales, female harp seals and other marine animals have also been affected by these. Increasing vulnerability Very often, certain species, which are viewed in wildlife tourisms, become more vulnerable to predators (Cong et al., 2014). The evidence has been observed in reptiles, mammals and birds Increased mortality and poaching Poaching is a common practice undertaken by hunters where the hunters take the lives of animals for their specific features like horns skin, pelts and other physical features. These features are useful to the hunters as the market value of these is quite high (Kibara, Odhiambo Njuguna, 2012). However, these unique physical features are very important for the animals themselves as they play a crucial rule in their survival against natural predators in their eco-system (Wongthong Harvey, 2014). Figure 3: The marine life is also spoiled by tourism. (Source: Hughes, 2013) Changes in habitat Due to pollution, which results from the smoke emitted by the vehicles carrying the tourists, a great amount of destruction is caused to natural habitats (Ziegler, Dearden Rollins, 2012). Vehicles including all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes ad off road vehicles, which are driven across streams and other water bodies, lead to loss of stability on the steam bank and lead to erosion. Positive Impacts The tourists visiting these wildlife places help in contributing funds required for the conservation of the wild life (Murphy, 2013). The financial donations that are earned help in the conservation efforts. Some wildlife tourism operations contribute to the monitoring of wildlife general research, which is relevant to the conservation. Difficulties in Measuring the Impact of Tourism on Wildlife and application of precautionary principle to their management. Various methods have been formulated to measure the impact of Tourism on Wildlife. Methods like line transect surveys and distance-sampling methods are generally used to study the harmful effect. Line transect surveys are generally done during the morning as well as evening. However, there are certain limitations associated with these methods. For example, in distance sampling theory, many animals remain undetected (OMalley, Lee-Brooks Medd, 2013). Even in methods like visual line transect surveys, the transects are randomly placed thereby creating constraints on establishing the transects in the forest as a whole. Therefore, there is no proper method involved and these methods are often based on assumptions, which are not relevant for all kinds of situations Conclusion Therefore, from the discussion it can be stated that, tourism has an adverse impact on the wildlife habitat as well as population, both terrestrial and marine. These impacts are difficult to measure as there is no proper method to do so. 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