Wildlife and other (non-human) animals

Scroll down for posts that have been tagged with “wild­life and oth­er (non-human) anim­als” as they relate to travel & tour­ism des­tin­a­tions and industry stakeholders.

Tags are inform­al. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog tries not to get bogged down with ter­min­o­logy and defin­i­tions. You may dis­agree with tags applied (or not applied) to a post. Feel free to com­ment on any post you think has been incor­rectly or insuf­fi­ciently tagged. “GT” encour­ages good-faith debate and discussion.

Elephants, otters return to Cardamom Tented Camp’s conservation area in Cambodia


Cardamom Tented Camp ecolodge in Cambodia reports success in nature conservation with otters and elephants coming back to its conservation area.

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp in Cam­bod­ia has wit­nessed the return of a small herd of ele­phants to its con­ser­va­tion area, after an absence of five years. A large group of smooth-coated otters are back too. Forest rangers dis­covered and pho­to­graphed ele­phant foot­prints and drop­pings inside the 18,000-hectare forest con­ces­sion, which the camp pro­tects, with help from Wildlife […]

Read More Elephants, otters return to Cardamom Tented Camp’s conservation area in Cambodia

Science, mahout traditions may help save Asian elephants from extinction in Laos


Elephant family crossing a river. Captive breeding technology and mahout knowledge may help save Asian elephants in Laos. Image supplied by Anabel Lopez Perez.

Asi­an ele­phants are at risk of extinc­tion in the wild and in cap­tiv­ity. That they are not repla­cing their num­bers in cap­tiv­ity may come as a sur­prise to many. This is why con­­ser­­va­­tion-ori­en­ted cap­tive breed­ing pro­grams are import­ant to the spe­cies. Wild­life bio­lo­gist Ana­bel Lopez Perez of Laos’ Ele­phant Con­ser­va­tion Cen­ter and Hol­lis Bur­b­ank-Ham­­marlund of […]

Read More Science, mahout traditions may help save Asian elephants from extinction in Laos

Where next for wildlife conservation, ecotourism, & community well-being?

July 6, 2021

Tim the tusker. (c) Beth Allgood

In many places, improved rela­tion­ships between tour­ism oper­a­tions, wild­life, and hab­it­ats were start­ing to deliv­er more sus­tain­able out­comes, includ­ing the par­ti­cip­a­tion of loc­al people. Then COVID-19 …  “Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner Plan­et Hap­pi­ness invited con­ser­va­tion and com­munity devel­op­ment expert Beth All­good to share her thoughts in this exclus­ive “GT” Insight. See­ing wild­life in their nat­ive habitat […]

Read More Where next for wildlife conservation, ecotourism, & community well-being?

Thailand’s tourism elephants lose when pragmatism gives way to politics, ideology

June 1, 2021
One Comment

Fundraising livestreams are the best hope for unemployed elephants in Thailand. Pic supplied by John Roberts.

The best hope for Thail­and’s unem­ployed tour­ism ele­phants now are livestreams and the gen­er­os­ity of donors. As travel resumes, ele­phant expert John Roberts fears that loc­al polit­ics and act­iv­ist ideo­logy will con­tin­ue to be a bar­ri­er to optim­al out­comes.  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight.  It is always fool­ish to gaze into a crys­tal ball and […]

Read More Thailand’s tourism elephants lose when pragmatism gives way to politics, ideology

Vietnam’s ‘little tiger’ meat trade and why travel & tourism should help tackle it

February 9, 2021
16 Comments

May 21, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam: Cat in a cage, ready to be sold, killed, and cooked © FOUR PAWS

From the front line of a fight to end Viet­nam’s trade in cats for their meat, veter­in­ari­an Kath­er­ine Polak of FOUR PAWS Inter­na­tion­al explains why the cat meat trade presents a danger to travel & tour­ism, and how industry stake­hold­ers can pledge their sup­port. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight.  Images in this post may cause […]

Read More Vietnam’s ‘little tiger’ meat trade and why travel & tourism should help tackle it

The effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on wildlife and wildlife tourism

January 12, 2021
One Comment

A bold and curious kookaburra at a picnic area in Brisbane, Australia. Image by Ronda J Green.

COVID-19 lock­downs have not only impacted travel & tour­ism, includ­ing wild­life tour­ism, but also wild­life itself. As a research eco­lo­gist, con­ser­va­tion­ist, eco-tour pro­pri­et­or, and chair of Wild­life Tour­ism Aus­tralia, Ronda J Green is inter­ested in all aspects of that. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Dr Green sum­mar­ises the effects coronavir­us lock­downs have had on wildlife […]

Read More The effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on wildlife and wildlife tourism