Feral tourism

Like wildlife documentaiy making, wildlife tourism typically seeks to framenature as an idealised place beyond humanity, with wilderness as something of agold standard against which nature experiences can be measured as authentic, realor proper. In many places, such as Australia, it also seeks to idealise and showcasenative natures, as true or pure ecosystemic communities uncontaminated by feralspecies, whose mobilities and "invasions'' shadowed naval exploration, colonialism,agriculture, scientific acclimatisations, globalisation - and tourism. Wildlifetourism also arranges tourism experiences and "outcomes" using such framings,seeking to align tourists with such values, and claiming their conversion to conservationismas a major ethical outcome. While not contesting the value of conservation,or the duty of care for our world - indeed seeking precisely to do thismore realistically and effectively - this paper asks whether it is time for wildlife/eco-tourism to recognise that nature in places like Australia no longer conformsto such ideals