(Taken by me!) I’ll include a handful of my pictures from Tanzania to draw you into this post. Ecotourism is only viable when the infrastructure is stable, communities see the returned value in conservation for tourism, and if the environment is suitable for tourists. The two most significant threats to ecotourism are… read more
Tanzanian travel
Over Spring Break, two other students and I traveled to Arusha, Tanzania to conduct some first person interviews for our ecotourism research (and relax as much as possible, it was Spring Break!). It was a big trip for me, since I had never been out of the country before. This… read more
Traffic sucks! (this time I don’t mean the rush-hour kind)
Wildlife trafficking is (and almost always has been) a huge problem in the world. Wildlife trade is the legal sale/transfer of wildlife and wildlife products, but trafficking is illegal — it involves endangered species, banned practices, or unsustainable take of wildlife. TRAFFIC (Wildlife trade monitoring network) is an organization that… read more
Let’s talk solutions! How to manage sport hunting and benefit conservation.
Earlier blog posts cited the benefits and drawbacks to sport hunting programs. Below, I will offer a solution that can keep both conservationists and avid hunters happy: allow heavily monitored and managed sport hunting to occur only when species are proven to not be harmed. Since studies show hunters are… read more
A new utilitarianism: Killing a few to save the many?
In direct contrast to my last blog post condemning sport hunting practices (even if the intentions were good), I’d like to present a different view. Although many researchers conclude that sport hunting has a negative impact on wildlife populations, there are still arguments that hunting is the best way to… read more
The potential to save animals by killing them?
Sport hunting is highly controversial, and has heavily armed critics (no pun intended) on both sides. Animal rights activists, as well as many conservationists, argue that sport hunting is cruel and unusual and cannot benefit conservation efforts. On the other side of the issue, some argue that sport hunting can… read more