[[alternative]]The effectiveness of interpretation involved in wildlife feeding tourism: a case study in Wushan macaque reserve

[[abstract]] 野生動物觀光近年來在國內外越來越盛行，且其趨勢是以觀察、攝影、觸摸以及餵養等較不具消耗資源的形式進行。其中又以餵食野生動物因能與野生動物有近距離的互動，因此頗受遊客之喜愛。然隨著科學的進步，近年來已有不少研究指出餵養野生物種所導致之負面衝擊；雖然在配套之管理措施施行下，亦有案例顯示此等觀光模式有助於生態保育，但在發展野生動物餵食觀光以追求經濟成長的同時，其與生態保育間似乎總存在衝突與爭議。有基於此，本研究提出一結合保育及經濟發展之整合性餵食觀光發展模式，視觀光餵食為手段並以生態保育作為此等觀光模式之最終目標。模式驗證施測對象為台南市烏山獼猴保護區，採敘述性統計分析、迴歸分析、干擾分析等方法進行分析，包括如解說活動之品質、愉悅感、情感依附、環境態度、保育意向及環境行為等各變數間之關係。研究期間(2011年2月5日至3月26日)共計發放450份問卷，實得415份有效問卷。研究結果顯示，當餵食活動當中有解說活動的介入，確實能夠提升遊客體驗餵食活動之愉悅感，至於愉悅感之增加與後續環境態度是否提升，彼此關係則與遊客本身對所餵食對象物種之情感依附深淺有關；對於歸屬高情感依附族群的遊客而言，其環境態度主要受人與動物間之感情連結有關(勝過於愉悅感之作用)；至於歸屬低情感依附族群的遊客，若欲提升其環境態度，則應以提升遊客之愉悅感為主要目標，此研究結果提供實務上以生態保育為願景之野生動物觀光餵食一重要參考方向，透過本研究所提出之整合經濟發展與生態保育之餵食觀光架構，本研究也發現經過這樣的體驗過程，能夠對此等物種更具保育態度及行為，並伴隨經濟的成長。[[abstract]] In recent years, wildlife tourism (WT) has become increasingly popular around the world. And the trend of wildlife interaction emphasize on observing, photographing, touching, feeding and other non-consumptive experiencing wild animals. In which, feeding was preferred owing to its close contact characteristic and could interact with each other. Unfortunately, there were many scientific evidences shown that feeding wildlife would lead to significant negative impacts; though with the implementation of proper management, this kind of WT mode could contribute to ecological conservation. However, it still exist controversial and conflicting issues between conservation and economic growth when developing wildlife feeding tourism. Therefore, the overriding objective of this research was to propose an conceptual model that considered economy and conservation aspects as well. It regards the feeding of animals as a tool and conservation as a final goal. The study sampling was conducted in Wushan macaque reserve in Tainan, Taiwan. And the descriptive statistical analysis, regression, and interference analysis were adopted as methods. The mainly disscussed variables include interpretation activities, tourists’ enjoyment, emotional attachment, environmental attitudes, intentions and environmental behavior. During the study period (February 5, 2011 to March 26, 2011), a total of 450 questionnaires were collected, and 415 were available. The results show that when the interpretation was induced to WT feeding activities, it can really enhance tourists’ experience and improve tourists’ enjoyment; as regards the relationship between enjoyment and environmental attitude, it depends on the emotional attachment of tourists to the feeded target species; Specifically, when the tourists was classified as higher emotional attachment, their environmental attitudes were mainly affected by the emotional linking intensity betwween tourists and wildlifes; on the contrary, tourists that have lower emotional attachment should emphasize the experiencing enjoyment to improve their environmental attitudes. In fact, the results proposed by the research provide an important insight in WT feeding. In additional, the proposed intergrated model that combined the economic development psespective and conservation issues, could not only grow local economy, but also improve tourists’ attitude, intention, as well as behavior. As consequently, help the wildlife feeding tourism more sustainable