Speech On Wildlife Conservation

1.1THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

The increasing of urbanization, the development of technology and changing the way of living or people’s lifestyle are different from the past. It makes natural resources such as forest and wildlife rapidly decreased and cause environmental issues such as flood, drought, air pollution, wastewater, biodiversity loss, wildlife extinction, etc. As the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report (2005) announced human activities caused the loss in diversity of lives such as mammal, bird, and amphibian which can lead to extinction.

As for Thailand, 6 species of wildlife are already extinct and about 116 species are classified to be threatening from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list. (The

(Balmford et al, 2004).

In Thailand, the zoos use survey method to ask about visitors’ satisfaction to improve the better service and there has no any zoo survey to study deeply about visitor’s attitude to wildlife and conservation before. This study will help the zoos to know more about their visitors, their thinking about conservation, which help to improve education programs and create the new ways of learning about wildlife and conservation to meet the final goal in raising the public awareness about wildlife conservation.

To see visitors’ perception of wildlife and how education programs can make the impact on visitors’ perception on wildlife conservation, the researcher conducted the study in Dusit Zoo which is taken responsibilities by Zoological Park Organization under the Royal Patronage of H.M. the King (ZPO) as a case

There are different types of visitors who come to the zoos; the one who likes to go somewhere else, the one who become interesting in something without knowing why he come to the zoo, the one who want to get interested in something and see around the zoo, and the one who come to the zoo with prior interest. (Churchman, 1985) Visitors studies can make zoo staff can understand the impact of factors on zoo visitors’ perceptions, attitudes and behaviors and can help to evaluate the existing zoo programs to improve the future programs. (Ostermeier, 2013)

Perception – The use of mind or senses, such as eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body to interpret and understand a person’s surroundings which are the basis of the learning process. In this study, the perception of wildlife conservation means the comprehension of a person about wildlife and the conservation of wildlife which occur from learning until it becomes to knowledge and experiences.

Sustainable Wildlife Conservation – “Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) Hence, in this study “sustainable wildlife conservation” means the protection of wildlife species and its natural habitats for the future generations to enjoy, recognize how important of wildlife and nature is and get some benefits from nature