- Email: [email protected]
Dogs in the leisure experience
Tourism Management 52 (2016) 297
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman
Book review Dogs in the leisure experience, Neil Carr. CABI, Wallingford (2014). pp. vii þ 171. ISBN 13 9 781780 643182 (hbk) £75 Animals and tourism understanding diverse relationships, Kevin Markwell (Ed.). Channel View, Bristol (2015). pp. xii þ 305. ISBN 13 9 781845 415037 (pbk) £34.95 These are two rather different studies, which nevertheless do have a degree of overlap. The first by Carr is focused on the dog and its many roles in society. There is the dog as companion and support, generalised or particular as with the seeing and hearing dogs, the dog as working animal; sniffer and search, foxhound, sheepdog and husky, the dog as therapy: (Edinburgh University uses dogs to de -stress students with exam nerves), and so. The survey goes beyond normal boundaries to look at cuisine for dogs and to that abhorrent idea to the British dog-lover- dogs as cuisine. It also looks at dog breeding and dog related activities-dog shows, dog products and dogs in advertising: most of us will remember the puppy and the toilet roll! It includes a section on the challenges of taking a dog on holiday, or if not, what the boarding kennel provides. Carr does not shrink from the problem of pet dogs in the countryside e where sheep worrying is a real concern e or that of poo in town parks. The relationship between humans and dogs is not always good; there is the abuse of the dog in dog-fighting, illegal and underground or in the possession of dogs as status symbols, whether small fluffy things as fashion statements by celebrities or pit bull terriers by youths with attitude. There is scandal of puppy farming of which there have been some notorious cases here in Britain of late. Dogs are big business; and no activity seems be faster growing than that of commercial dog walking; no country park or walk is free at midday from the leashed packs of miscellaneous animals out for exercise. The second study, edited by Markham, is a collection of eighteen essays, which looks at a wide variety of animals that play a part in tourism from tapirs to elephants, but taking in also crocodiles and butterflies. There is a linkage with Carr, a chapter called Pooches on Wheels-: take your dog with you in a mobile home. The bigger overlap is over questions of right and wrong; the ethics of ownership and the relationship. Dogs enjoy exercise and some sports such as frisby catching are fun for owner and dog alike e though probably they would prefer chasing rabbits. But what of sports like greyhound racing, where the dog past competition is simply disposed of? Or dog dancing, which is merely a demonstration of trainer power. Humans abuse the relationship. Here, there is common ground with many of the studies in Markwell's collection: the question of the ethical issues relating to animal welfare and animal rights which are involved in wildlife tourism. I myself found the chapter by David Fennell on theories of animal ethics particularly helpful, as is the editor's summary at the end. There are several schools of thought, some of which seem to have lost touch with reality; as seen recently when the Society for the Ethical Treatment of Animals raised a formal complaint http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.06.029 0261-5177
about the bad language used by an Australian sheep shearer because the sheep could have been ‘offended by the use of bad language’! It may be, of course, that my perspective is coloured by my own incorrigible cat-chasing Labrador, who is completely oblivious of the cries and threats addressed to him. There are weighty issues raised here as to the inter-relationships between tourism and animals, here used in the wider sense of all fauna, including insects and fish. Wildlife tourism is a rapidly growing activity; not just for the flagship species such as lions, elephants and gorillas, but also for what are termed ‘less charismatic species’ of reptiles and insects. But wildlife tourism may conflict with indigenous hunting: one person's photo op is another's lunch. Forests, in the eyes of their local owners, may be better harvested for their timber than their birds, and so on. Tourism may make money for some, but at cost to others. The proposed reintroduction of the beaver to Scotland is being sold as good for tourism but opposed by landowners and famers because of the damage that will be done. Economics may tip the scales; when more can be made, as a Brazilian study shows, from tourists watching turtles than by the local fishermen catching and eating them. Tourism can further conservation. But the effects are not always so clear. There is also the question of how to view wildlife. In the wild, the danger is that the tourist by his very presence and the supporting infrastructure may degrade the environment, as when vessel noise disrupts whale or dolphin pods with young. Feeding stations to draw large carnivores (as in Finland) into camera range actually lessen their natural hunting skills. Zoos, marine parks or aquaria pose difficulties: captive animal viewing is highly popular but it comes at the expense of the animal's freedom, and all too often reduces them merely to an object for inspection and amusement. At least in these areas, a sort of defence can be offered that they are secure, fed and freed from the uncertainties of the wild. But moving along the ethical spectrum, much less can be said in justification of the training in Thailand of young elephants as objects of tourist entertainment to which more than one contributor refers, training which involves much cruelty. But the same is all too often true of the training of gun dogs or circus horses, wherever an animal is reshaped to a machine. A really troubling chapter reviews the shooting of tapir goats in New Zealand where rich hunters are ferried to the hills by helicopter, a profitable form of sporting tourism. Some would say all killing for pleasure is wrong, but the hunting code has always been a curious mix: killing yes, but in the right way. In this case, the local hunters do not think that this is an acceptable way. This anthology raises all sorts of highly important questions about the relationship between animals, tourists and tourism. Alastair J. Durie The University of Stirling, UK E-mail address: [email protected]. 30 June 2015
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman
Book review Dogs in the leisure experience, Neil Carr. CABI, Wallingford (2014). pp. vii þ 171. ISBN 13 9 781780 643182 (hbk) £75 Animals and tourism understanding diverse relationships, Kevin Markwell (Ed.). Channel View, Bristol (2015). pp. xii þ 305. ISBN 13 9 781845 415037 (pbk) £34.95 These are two rather different studies, which nevertheless do have a degree of overlap. The first by Carr is focused on the dog and its many roles in society. There is the dog as companion and support, generalised or particular as with the seeing and hearing dogs, the dog as working animal; sniffer and search, foxhound, sheepdog and husky, the dog as therapy: (Edinburgh University uses dogs to de -stress students with exam nerves), and so. The survey goes beyond normal boundaries to look at cuisine for dogs and to that abhorrent idea to the British dog-lover- dogs as cuisine. It also looks at dog breeding and dog related activities-dog shows, dog products and dogs in advertising: most of us will remember the puppy and the toilet roll! It includes a section on the challenges of taking a dog on holiday, or if not, what the boarding kennel provides. Carr does not shrink from the problem of pet dogs in the countryside e where sheep worrying is a real concern e or that of poo in town parks. The relationship between humans and dogs is not always good; there is the abuse of the dog in dog-fighting, illegal and underground or in the possession of dogs as status symbols, whether small fluffy things as fashion statements by celebrities or pit bull terriers by youths with attitude. There is scandal of puppy farming of which there have been some notorious cases here in Britain of late. Dogs are big business; and no activity seems be faster growing than that of commercial dog walking; no country park or walk is free at midday from the leashed packs of miscellaneous animals out for exercise. The second study, edited by Markham, is a collection of eighteen essays, which looks at a wide variety of animals that play a part in tourism from tapirs to elephants, but taking in also crocodiles and butterflies. There is a linkage with Carr, a chapter called Pooches on Wheels-: take your dog with you in a mobile home. The bigger overlap is over questions of right and wrong; the ethics of ownership and the relationship. Dogs enjoy exercise and some sports such as frisby catching are fun for owner and dog alike e though probably they would prefer chasing rabbits. But what of sports like greyhound racing, where the dog past competition is simply disposed of? Or dog dancing, which is merely a demonstration of trainer power. Humans abuse the relationship. Here, there is common ground with many of the studies in Markwell's collection: the question of the ethical issues relating to animal welfare and animal rights which are involved in wildlife tourism. I myself found the chapter by David Fennell on theories of animal ethics particularly helpful, as is the editor's summary at the end. There are several schools of thought, some of which seem to have lost touch with reality; as seen recently when the Society for the Ethical Treatment of Animals raised a formal complaint http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.06.029 0261-5177
about the bad language used by an Australian sheep shearer because the sheep could have been ‘offended by the use of bad language’! It may be, of course, that my perspective is coloured by my own incorrigible cat-chasing Labrador, who is completely oblivious of the cries and threats addressed to him. There are weighty issues raised here as to the inter-relationships between tourism and animals, here used in the wider sense of all fauna, including insects and fish. Wildlife tourism is a rapidly growing activity; not just for the flagship species such as lions, elephants and gorillas, but also for what are termed ‘less charismatic species’ of reptiles and insects. But wildlife tourism may conflict with indigenous hunting: one person's photo op is another's lunch. Forests, in the eyes of their local owners, may be better harvested for their timber than their birds, and so on. Tourism may make money for some, but at cost to others. The proposed reintroduction of the beaver to Scotland is being sold as good for tourism but opposed by landowners and famers because of the damage that will be done. Economics may tip the scales; when more can be made, as a Brazilian study shows, from tourists watching turtles than by the local fishermen catching and eating them. Tourism can further conservation. But the effects are not always so clear. There is also the question of how to view wildlife. In the wild, the danger is that the tourist by his very presence and the supporting infrastructure may degrade the environment, as when vessel noise disrupts whale or dolphin pods with young. Feeding stations to draw large carnivores (as in Finland) into camera range actually lessen their natural hunting skills. Zoos, marine parks or aquaria pose difficulties: captive animal viewing is highly popular but it comes at the expense of the animal's freedom, and all too often reduces them merely to an object for inspection and amusement. At least in these areas, a sort of defence can be offered that they are secure, fed and freed from the uncertainties of the wild. But moving along the ethical spectrum, much less can be said in justification of the training in Thailand of young elephants as objects of tourist entertainment to which more than one contributor refers, training which involves much cruelty. But the same is all too often true of the training of gun dogs or circus horses, wherever an animal is reshaped to a machine. A really troubling chapter reviews the shooting of tapir goats in New Zealand where rich hunters are ferried to the hills by helicopter, a profitable form of sporting tourism. Some would say all killing for pleasure is wrong, but the hunting code has always been a curious mix: killing yes, but in the right way. In this case, the local hunters do not think that this is an acceptable way. This anthology raises all sorts of highly important questions about the relationship between animals, tourists and tourism. Alastair J. Durie The University of Stirling, UK E-mail address: [email protected]. 30 June 2015