Reading Comprehension TEXT 9
Read the following text
It’s human beings, not just tourists, who kill off tigers
If done responsibly, wildlife tourism can be hugely beneficial to animals
Tigers are being loved to death. Tourists desperate for a glimpse of a tiger are damaging habitat and harassing tigers, putting the endangered beasts they have come to see into even more danger. As a result, India is to make some adjustments in its management of wildlife tourists: phasing them out of the core areas of some of its tiger reserves.
Read that quickly and it seems that India has decided that tiger tourism is a bad thing, and that all wildlife tourism is an equally bad thing. It is nothing of the kind. Wildlife tourism is a very good thing. I am a great lover of wildlife tourism: I have done a lot of it, and I shall be co-leading a group to the Luangwa Valley in Zambia this year. I am committed to the principle of wildlife tourism.
Wildlife tourism puts a dollar value on wildlife. This simple truth has an important meaning for politicians and entrepreneurs who might otherwise seek to develop wild places and turn them into industrial zones: it also has a meaning for the people of the area who find employment in tourism. In this way, wildlife is valued, rather than poached, or encroached upon.
Wildlife also inspires the people who see it. For many, a dramatic view of one of the world’s great beasts — a tiger, a leopard, a whale — is a life-changing experience. Such a sighting makes people aware of the fragility of the planet and the folly of our short-term thinking. Above all, it prompts people to step back from our traditional species chauvinism. The best PR people for wildlife are wild beasts.
I am a great supporter of wildlife tourism: I am also a great supporter of drink. I think drink is a damn good thing and that, like wild creatures, it is great enhancer of human life. I am also aware that drink can be a disaster, a ruination, a curse and a destroyer of lives.
Wildlife tourism is similarly equivocal. When carried out with wisdom and responsibility, it is the best possible news for the creatures and the people of the area, and for the people doing the touring. I am also aware that wildlife tourism can — sometimes with the best of intentions — be stupid, greedy and destructive.
Balance is the key. Last year I paid a memorable visit to Corbett national park in India and saw my tiger. It was a profound and important experience. But like most tiger-seekers, I would not knowingly put a tiger in danger by my love for tigerkind.
An adjustment of practice in India’s wildlife tourism is a good thing: a reassertion of the priorities of conservation is an excellent thing. But it is not tourists that are killing off tigers: it is, above all, the world’s ever-increasing human population, and its incontinent need for room to live in.
Now read the following and write TRUE or FALSE after each statement
1. Wildlife tourism should be stopped if we do not want to further endanger animals and their natural habitats.
2. According to the text, the human population’s increasing need to have “a life changing experience” by seeing wildlife in its natural habitat is killing off tigers in India.