Is wildlife tourism helping or hindering the tigers in India?
When a tiger was found dead in a popular Indian wildlife park, people thought the animal had been struck by a tourist safari vehicle. The incident sparked a new debate over whether wildlife tourism is damaging the tiger population in India. A short while ago, the Indian National Tiger Conservation Authority tried to ban tiger wildlife tourism, which resulted in an uproar. The notion was soon scrapped. But wildlife tourism needs to be more closely monitored in order to protect the tiger population. Tigers are more under threat from poachers and the destruction of their habitat than they are from tourists. With all these other threats on their doorstep, does wildlife tourism really affect the endangered cats? Wildlife parks in India are small, and visitor numbers aren’t properly monitored. A ticket system limiting the number of visitors into the parks would reduce the amount of stress on the tigers. Too many lodges outside the parks add to the swelling number of visitors. And there is cu
