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Please do not feed the wildlife!

1/31/2012

13 Comments

 
How many times during your travels have you seen tourists feeding wildlifeeven though signs prohibiting these behaviors are posted near-by? Perhaps even you have fed a wild animal either in your backyard, a park, or near a historic monument. In my travels I have seen people feeding wildlife of every size, shape,  and color.  Even when signs threaten fines for feeding the wildlife, some people feel it necessary to feed chipmunks, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, a variety of wild birds, and even larger animals, such as deer, elk, wild donkeys, and monkeys. 
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Have you seen the signs?  Have you heeded the warnings? When I have pointed out the signs or brochures on the rules, I have heard the following reasons:
**I just wanted to get a close-up photo. 
**My children love feeding the chipmunks.         
 **The chipmunks looked too thin so they may be starving . . . I don't want them to die. 
**It is getting close to winter so I wanted the animals to fatten up in order to survive the upcoming winter weather.

** The animals are begging for food, so obviously lots of people have fed them before we started feeding them.  
**We have always fed the wildlife and never received a fine, so it must be okay.

Great excuses, but there may be some serious negative impacts that endanger the unsuspecting animal.  Allow me to cover a few of the dangers.

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Human food is not healthy for wildlife! Feeding chipmunks peanuts is not a naturally occurring food for chipmunks. Surprisingly to some, store bought peanuts can be treated with chemicals that are toxic to wild animals. Definitely unsafe foods are: unripe acorns (contain excess tannin), plum stones (contain cyanide), excessive peanuts (because they can swell inside the animal).

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Feeding the wildlife may create aggressive behaviors. The wild burros of Custor State Park are feral but have been habituated to accepting food from tourists.  In fact, they can be aggressive and create wildlife jams along the roads as tourists feed the animals through their car windows. Unfortunately, the burros can get hit by cars & become dangerous pests. Human food is not always nutritious or beneficial to the wild animals. Processed foods that humans eat do not offer a healthy diet for wild animals.

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Just like humans who eat snack foods that are not healthy for us, so do wildlife when you provide these unhealthy options. Yes, these wild creatures may readily consume foods like popcorn and bread, but these carbohydrates do not provide sufficient nutrition while these processed food items will disrupt their digestive system. Further, as wildlife become reliant on the food provided by tourists, they stop feeding on the natural foods in their local area.  These locally found foods provide the nutrition needed for their health and continued survival. 

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Contrary to popular belief Cheetos, potato chips, breath mints, and chocolate are not suitable food sources for wildlife. Fed animals may become more agressive with each other or with tourists.  If an area is a 4 season destination, then reliance on an abundant artificial food source may result in the animals not migrating during the proper time, or a failure to stock pile natural foods neccessary for survival over the harsh winter season. Further over-feeding may result in over-population of the species in an area which leads to greater incidence of diseases or insufficient local food for the population to survive when tourist numbers are low or infrequent due to the winter or low tourist season.

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Over-feeding or feeding in a specific area where humans gather will change animal behaviors.  Typically, wild animals naturally disperse across the landscape, but artificial food sources promotes the
concentration of animals into a small area increases the incidence of feces, saliva, and urine, which easily harbor infectious disease-causing
micro-organisms like bacteria, viruses, or fungi.  Further if food is not consumed fully, the remaining rotting food will attract mice and insects.  This increases the potential for the spread of disease .

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Feeding chipmunks at Bryce National Park and Zion National Park has increased the number of chipmunks hit by automobile traffic as they have lost the fear of humans.  The chipmunks can be agressive with humans and frighten small children.  It is not surprising to see an increase in the number of animal bites reported by unwary tourists who ignored the signs.

Please be a responsible tourist by refraining from feeding the wildlife.  Encourage other tourists to avoid feeding the wildlife.  I remember seeing a sign that read "A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear!"  Perhaps we should say a fed wild animal is a dead animal. 

To summarize allow me to present the key points presented by Acadia National Park on the subject:

**Wildlife feeding threatens human and animal safety.
**Wildlife feeding my lead to over-abundance or over-concentration of a species to an area.
**Wildlife feeding can promote the spread of diseases.
**Wildlife feeding may cause malnutrition in wildlife.
**Wildlife feeding leads to the unnatural behavior of wildlife.
**Wildlife feeding is prohibited by law in many states and/or countries.  (For example, "Feeding wildlife is punishable with a fine of up to $5000.00 and/or 6 months in jail!")
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The raven appears to be destroying the sign . . . perhaps to remove the fine printing below the sign: "Feeding wildlife is punishable with a fine of up to $5000.00 and/or 6 months in jail!"
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A very clean appearing sign at a state park.
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A sign observed in Canada
13 Comments

Responsible Tourism starts with a Responsible Tourist!

1/30/2012

65 Comments

 
Responsible tourism starts with you the responsible traveler! The first and critical component in any responsible travel experience is the traveler! If we all made every effort to make responsible and sustainable decisions about our vacation destinations, providers and activities then we could make a significant step in protecting communities and the environment around the world.

Let us start with a simple responsible decision that will not cost you a cent. In fact, it might just save you an unplanned visit to the emergency room:

Be Responsible for your own Safety
Read the Signs and Follow the rules!
How many times have you seen people ignore the rules or guidelines provided while traveling? Let us take one example: When you visit Yellowstone National Park there are signs reminding tourists to NOT approach the wildlife. For the last several years, rangers have handed out flyers to each car (now hangtags) at the entrance gates, posted signs near almost every parking lot in the park, and repeated the warnings in the park newspaper. The rule posted to the Yellowstone National Park website:

"Approaching on foot within 100 yards (91 m) of bears or wolves or within 25 yards (23 m) of other wildlife is prohibited."

Yet, tourists can be seen everyday approaching wildlife in an effort to get that memorable photo. Perhaps they do not know how far 25 or 100 yards is from an animal. It might be that tourists do not know how much damage an animal can generate when annoyed by intrusions in their “personal space.”   


Bison Warning Handout from Yellowstone National Park
Bison warning that was received at the West Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
Typical Warning Sign at Yellowstone National Park near a bison.
A typical warning sign at Yellowstone National Park. I cropped out the two children that were with this man . . . I warned him to please take his children away from the area but he proceeded to advance on the elk regardless of the posted warning.
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As we were turning out of the drive from the North Rim of the Canyons of Yellowstone, we could see a crowd of tourists and a wildlife jam focused on this mature bull elk. This tourist was trying to get a close-up photo by walking up to the elk . . . much closer than 25 yards to a full grown bull elk at Yellowstone National Park. I love this guy in his bright red shirt! It was clear that the man was disturbing the animal because the elk kept moving away every time the man moved closer. As the elk moved up the hill another crowd was forming between the main road that approaches the Canyon Lodge.
Tourists with back to a bull elk.
I snapped this photo as we drove by the scene . . . this was just a few moments after observing the photo shown above this photo. These men were watching the same mature elk and were now turning their back on the elk as a ranger was asking them to please return to their cars. If that elk became annoyed with the crowding he could have charged these men and been upon them before they ever knew what was happening.
Tourists with bison at Yellowstone National Park
Check out the trusting tourist getting his photo taken with his back to the herd of bison. Maybe the tourist just does not know how far 25 yards might be . . . so let us examine an analogy.
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As a swimmer I can relate to this illustration. . . imagine swimming laps in a 25 yard pool.   

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 To imagine the 100 yard distance, consider the image of a football field. 
For those individuals that lull themselves into thinking that these animals are tame, consider the following YouTube video of a Bison attack. 

65 Comments

Look for Companies that Care about Customers

1/23/2012

9 Comments

 
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Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah
Guest Blog by Eric Hull - an undergraduate student in Dr. Ralston's International Tourism course (Spring 2012)

How do you choose a destination over another?  I would choose the destination that had a higher quality operation! 

In the US, we have two great and different types of vacation destinations that are always on the top of the lists for places to visit, either during the summer or winter.  This is just my opinion, but those two destinations are the Disney Resorts or Deer Valley Resort.

Disney: The reason for their success over the years is that they care about their employees, they take the time to lay out their park by optimizing the use of their land, they train their employees to answer all questions that could be asked of them and finally they care about what you see when walking around the park. 

Deer Valley Resort: The reason for their success is that the same people have owned them since their beginning. Having the same ownership has allowed the resorts to have same policies in place over the years. Other resorts have changed ownership many times over the years. Deer Valley has tried to be like Disney in the way they treat their employees and guests by providing the highest quality of respect. One other nice thing that Deer Valley does is that they train their employees to know answers to any questions that may come their way 

I love these two resorts because they have similar qualities in how they train their employees, and how they care about the look of their resort. At either business you will always see an employee pick up trash no matter what condition that piece of trash is in. I also love these two destinations because of the time they put into training their employees to be respectful, well mannered and to know everything about their company they work for.

In my opinion, if I had to pick a place to travel to during the winter it would be Deer Valley Resort and in the summer it would be one the Disney Resorts.

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Linda's favorite Disney Resort is the Yacht Club at Disney World. Wonderful service, comfortable rooms, great hospitable staff, and easy access to Epcot/World Showcase and Disney Studios.
9 Comments

    Author: Linda Ralston

    This blog is authored by Dr. Linda Ralston with the intent of educating tourists on how to be responsible and sustainable in their travel experiences. Check out the latest news with the Resort Manager's News . . . a free paper updated daily.

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