Table of Contents
Abstract
Wildlife tourism attracts substantial numbers of tourists worldwide with Africa as the major wildlife viewing destination. It is the home for animals like rhino which holds 80% of the world’s rhino population. Rapid increase in rhino poaching activities has reached a crisis point and attracting global attention. In this case study author has mentioned current situation in Kruger national park, its consequences and solutions for the same.
South African National Parks (SAN parks) is one of the scientific research group in the world which manages twenty parks in eight provinces at about 3700,000 hector in South African land and serve the significant role in the functioning of the conserving sectors of a natural heritage intended to develop couple conservation with social and economic development across the rural areas. It was established in 1898 aiming to protect wildlife of South Africa. The main objective was to create safe heaven for the black and white rhinos to prevent extinction and maintain good trend of park running hundreds of South African animal species in SAN parks, provide professional service related to capture, translocation, holding and provide ethical values to wildlife.
Their strategy is “to ensure sustainability and responsible tourism growth, while enhancing our vision of connecting our national parks to globe”. In terms of economic movement, SAN parks had maximized sales by concentrating on high value species. In 2009, the organization has made 500 sales of rhinos in South Africa while Kruger National Park claimed 252 transactions and revenues of 7.0 billion were generated at an average price of $30,300 with three auctions were held by SAN parks. About 6.9 billion USD were the estimated revenue generated from tourist attraction and 70% of the total amount was generated from hunting. South Africa is the home for the rhinos in the world and that incredibly important country for their conservation but poaching levels have dramatically increased over the last few years.
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Kruger has connected globally by partnering with zoos’ and parks to provide rhino. Kruger has also grown their tourism business but not enough to offset increased expenses. Competition has grown as well and is able to offer hunting packages that take visitors away from Kruger. Their strategy to ensure sustainability has been strained in recent years due to government funding cuts. Kruger National Park has offset costs by selling rhino at a high price to private ranchers which creates ethical dilemma. Before when funding was available, the park would sell off rhino and other animals to parks and zoos as a necessary way of thinning the herd.
This activity is in contrast to the park’s mission which is “To develop, manage and promote a system of national parks that represents the biodiversity and heritage assets by sharing benefits and environmental justice”. The park has many requirements of buyers but cannot ensure the safety of the animals. It is unethical for poachers to kill Rhino but in essence, the park could be seen publically as bypassing this constraint by selling the animal to those that may not have interest of saving them.
References
- CNN: Is wildlife tourism actually helping conservation?
- PLOS ONE: Assessing the effectiveness of rhinoceros poaching interventions in Kruger National Park, South Africa
- IUCN: Wildlife Trade and COVID-19: increasing the risk of illegal trade in wildlife and threatening the last rhinos
- World Wildlife Fund: Rhino Conservation
