A Closer Examination of the Impact of Zoo Visits on Visitor Behaviour

Zoos suggest that they can play a role in fostering conservation behaviour, but there is only limited research support for such claims. This article examines why there might be a difference between the stated potential for zoos to influence visitor behaviour and existing research findings. The present study utilises a research design, methods and instruments that provide more sensitive measures of conservation behaviour outcomes. In particular, a distinction is made between behaviours that were already known to visitors and new/unknown behaviours. Two behaviours communicated during a bird presentation at an Australian zoo (recycling and removing road kill from the road) were chosen to test. Results include that, 81% of the respondents recalled hearing the conservation actions during the presentation and 54% stated an intention to increase their commitment or start an action. In 38 follow-up telephone interviews six months after their visit, 26 stated that they had started or increased their commitment to an action. However, only three had started a new action and these were actions previously known to them. The results frame a discussion on actions that zoos may wish to target if they wish to communicate more successfully.     

水生生物类型自然保护区管理有效性评价指标探析

本文通过查阅国内外保护区管理成效评价相关文献、资料,分析了国际上森林和海洋类型自然保护区评价体系及我国林业、环保部门评价自然保护区管理成效的评价指标。通过问卷调查和实地考察,对我国水生生物类型自然保护区管理现状进行了初步调查,总结归纳了该类型自然保护区的管理特点,提出在选取评价指标时,要突出水生生物类型自然保护区的管理特色、体现保护区间的差异、制定合理的赋值标准、注重科学评价、设定指标权重等建议,为科学评定水生生物类型自然保护区管理成效奠定基础。     

Managing the wildlife tourism experience: The importance of tour leaders

This paper is based on a small ethnographic study of serious wildlife tourists. It focuses on three important aspects of this type of travel. First, the tangible benefits of the tourist experience; second, the importance of the tour leader as the interface between the product and the tourist; and finally, tourist perceptions of their potential environmental and social impacts. The findings reveal participants' environmental sensibilities and the desire to avoid disturbance, the social benefits of organised tours and how the tour leader is critical to both the success of the holiday and the responsible behaviour of the group. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conflicting limits to growth in sustainable tourism

Sustainability has emerged as an important field of research with an emphasis on studying tourism impacts and defining the limits of growth in tourism. However, the conceptual foundation of sustainability and the limits to growth have been perceived as vague and their implementation in tourism operations has emerged as a difficult task. This research note aims to present two different perspectives on sustainability by utilizing an experimental pilot example (yellow-eyed penguins) to demonstrate how different theoretical conceptualizations are manifested in nature-based tourism operations.     

Managing Urban Deer

Conflicts are emerging between humans and wildlife populations adaptable to the high density of humans found in urban and suburban areas. In response to these threats, animal control programs are typically designed with the objective of establishing and maintaining a stable population. This article challenges this view by studying the management of urban deer in Irondequoit, NY. Pulsing controls can be more efficient than steady-state regimes under a wide range of conditions in both deterministic and stochastic environments, but potential gains can be dissipated by management constraints. The effect of citizen opposition to lethal control methods is also investigated.     

我国水生野生动物自然保护区建设状况研究

本文概述了我国水生野生动物自然保护区发展状况,重点论述了水生野生动物自然保护区的保护物种、保护区布局和保护区的管理现状;并提出了我国水生野生动物自然保护区应将部分保护区进行整合、加大对保护区的资金投入、正确处理好保护区和社区的关系及理顺保护区的管理体制等建议.     

But are tourists satisfied? Importance-performance analysis of the whale shark tourism industry on Isla Holbox, Mexico

The objective of this paper is to understand the motivations and satisfactions of whale shark tour participants on Isla Holbox, Mexico in order to assess the success of this industry in meeting customer expectations. Whale shark tour participants were provided with a list of environmental and setting features and asked to rate the importance of, and satisfaction with, each feature. Importance-performance (IP) analysis was used to compare these scores and identify areas of management concern. The IP analysis identified key issues with false advertising, lack of educational information, perceived crowding, and tour cost. These factors are representative of larger issues related to the uncontrolled growth of the whale shark tourism industry on Holbox. Management should focus on limiting the growth of the industry, ensuring the equitable distribution of economic benefits within the industry, and developing and implementing effective guide training and interpretation programs.     

The impact of marketing campaigns deterring the supply and demand of endangered wildlife in Kenya and China

Poaching rhinos to sell their horns is one of the most pressing threats to wildlife and constitutes an illicit yet extremely profitable business. Employing construal level and reactance theory, two studies examine which marketing campaign is most effective in countries where the crime is actually taking place by distinguishing supply (=poachers in Kenya) and demand (=consumers of Chinese traditional medicine in China). Both studies follow a 2 × 2 between-subject design with an additional control group whereby temporal distance and social distance are manipulated to outline weaknesses of current antipoaching campaigns and identify alternatives that are more effective. Results suggest that economic and identity-related factors can explain consumers (China) and poachers (Kenya) intentions to purchase traditional Chinese medicine with rhino horn or sell rhino horn. In both countries, marketing campaigns featuring temporal distance were superior to close counterparts; yet, the mediating variables differ for each country. Close temporal distance elicits reactance. Interestingly, poachers do not seem to discriminate between close and far social distance. The findings have lifesaving implications for wildlife, profound practical implications for non-governmental organizations, and governmental agencies' additional theoretical contributions.     

“Minor crimes” against wildlife: Small offenses,lasting impact,and a proposed solution

Past research has examined why people engage in negative consumer behaviors, but research has not adequately examined what drives minor crimes against wildlife, which is important given their prevalence and impact on the welfare of wildlife. We address this need for research with two studies that examine minor crimes against wildlife in the context of wildlife jams (i.e., traffic jams caused by wildlife in and around roadways that obstruct the normal flow of traffic). Study 1 introduces a research methodology very new to the field of marketing by using participant observation and geospatial data to characterize actual behaviors of people during wildlife jam events in a national park setting. Study 2 begins with a pre-test identifying the primary reasons for participation in wildlife jams before the main study tests a message-based intervention strategy to reduce wildlife jams using five conditions (no message, standard message, attitudes-based message, norms-based message, control-based message). Results reveal that a norms-based message reduced intentions to participate in wildlife jams the most, while all messaging tactics were more effective than no message. Findings build on the theory of planned behavior, and suggestions for decreasing consumer harm to wildlife are discussed.