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Impacts of the COVID‐19 Pandemic on Mammals at Tourism Destinations: a Systematic Review

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Impacts of the COVID‐19 Pandemic on Mammals at Tourism Destinations: a Systematic Review bs_bs_banner Mammal Review ISSN 0305-1838 REVIEW Impacts of the COVID-­19 pandemic on mammals at tourism destinations: a systematic review Rie USUI* Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-­2-­3 Kagamiyama, Higashihiroshima-­shi, Hiroshima 7398522, Japan. Email: [email protected] Lori K. SHEERAN Department of Anthropology and Museum Studies, and Primate Behavior and Ecology Program, Central Washington University, 400 E University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA. Email: [email protected] Ashton M. ASBURY Primate Behavior and Ecology Program, Central Washington University, 400 E University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA. Email: [email protected] Maurice BLACKSON James E. Brooks Library, Central Washington University, 400 E University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA. Email: [email protected] Keywords ABSTRACT coronavirus, COVID-­19, mammals, pandemic, SARS-­CoV-­2, systematic review, tourism 1. The COVID-­19 outbreak is having an unprecedented effect on human society, but how is it affecting the mammals that people live with? Mammals that *Correspondence. were part of tourism experiences are of concern, because they impact on people’s health and livelihoods and, since many of them are now dependent Received: 31 May 2020 on people, we urge consideration of the status of these mammals as a result Accepted: 7 December 2020 Editor: DR of the pandemic. 2. We provide a systematic review of the impacts the COVID-­19 outbreak has doi: 10.1111/mam.12245 had on mammals in tourism venues. We examine reports of diverse species in various settings responding to changes in their environments that are oc- curring because of the pandemic. 3. We searched the scholarly literature, preprints, and online news sources using combinations of the search terms ‘tourism’, ‘animals’, ‘wildlife’, ‘coronavirus’, and ‘COVID-­19’. We searched Web of Science, SCOPUS, EBSCOHost, JSTOR, bioRxiv, OSFPREPRINTS, GDELT, Google News, and National Public Radio, and analysed a total of 39 news articles, one peer-­reviewed article, and six preprints. 4. In total, we identified 92 distinct animal reports representing 48 mammal species. We used an existing tourism classification schema to categorise each article based on the situation reported, with the new addition of one context. We classified 92 separate animal reports in 46 articles into four (of six pos- sible) contexts: mammals as attractions (n = 40 animal reports), mammals as commodities (n = 33), mammals as threats (n = 2), and unusual sightings of mammals (n = 17). Shortage of food, in danger of losing home, having an enriched/relaxed environment, spatial expansion, disease transmission, and poaching are the major impacts or events reported in these contexts. 5. We suggest changes for each context with respect to how people interface with mammals, with the goal of improving the lives of mammals and the people dependent on them. Mammal Review (2021) © 2021 The Mammal Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1 Impacts of the COVID- 19 pandemic on mammals R. Usui et al. INTRODUCTION mammals in tourism venues. We focus on mammals be- cause they are usually the most visible representatives of Since the first cases of COVID- 19 were identified in Wuhan, a given habitat, and they are often integral to nature- based Hubei, China, in December 2019, the SARS-CoV- 2 virus tourism – defined as a type of tourism that pertains to has spread rapidly around the world. In March 2020, the activities occurring outdoors (Fredman & Tyrväinen 2011). World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID- 19 As COVID- 19 becomes increasingly widespread, numer- outbreak a global pandemic. At the time of writing (January ous research papers have been published, mainly addressing 2021), there are over 88 million confirmed cases, and the its impact on human lives (e.g. Baldwin & Tomiura 2020, worldwide death toll has exceeded 1.9 million, affecting Chinazzi et al. 2020, Zheng et al. 2020). Non-human almost all countries and territories in the world (World mammals are interconnected with human societies through Health Organization 2020b). tourism and nature-based activities, among other mecha- This is not the first such emerging infectious disease nisms. Large numbers of people are already returning to we humans have faced, but in comparison with the last tourism destinations in China (Westcott & Culver 2020), two global disease outbreaks occurring in the 21st Century, underscoring the need to address the impact this global the COVID- 19 outbreak is characterised by large numbers crisis is having on mammals. We urge the implementation of people infected, high mortality rates, and an unprec- of changes now, before other countries follow China’s edented economic impact, leaving millions of people un- lead in reopening nature- focused tourism venues. employed. In the last two decades, we have already witnessed Rutz et al. (2020) coined the term ‘anthropause’ to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle describe the reduction in human activities as a result of East respiratory syndrome (MERS), both of which are the COVID- 19 pandemic. While the anthropause has had caused by coronaviruses, as COVID-19 is caused by SARS- unprecedented impacts on human societies, it has also CoV- 2. In 2002 and 2003, the cumulative number of SARS been an opportunity for researchers to examine how hu- cases reported was 8096 from 29 countries, and 774 cases man activities affected other animals at a global level, resulted in death (World Health Organization 2003). MERS which, in turn, has allowed us to develop novel strategies has affected 2494 people from 27 countries since its out- to coexist with other species on the planet (Rutz et al. break in 2014, taking the lives of 858 people to date 2020). Likewise, consideration of how COVID-19 affects (World Health Organization 2020a). non- human mammals provides a more holistic understand- Human mobility is a major factor contributing to the ing of mammals’ position in tourism, as well as tourism’s spread of infectious diseases in the 21st Century (Labonté roles in their lives, which will aid in planning and im- et al. 2011). Opportunities to see wildlife and unique plementing appropriate risk measures in the future. While habitats are primary motivators of many tourists (Curtin some scholars have already published studies that discuss & Kragh 2014), and the travel associated with nature- based the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on wildlife in tourism contributes to the rapid spread of diseases to the general or at wildlife tourism destinations (Linsey et al. world’s most remote places (Enk et al. 2010, Köndgen 2020, Manenti et al. 2020, Newsome 2020), they capture et al. 2008). For example, Bhutan is a Himalayan kingdom a fraction of the pandemic’s impact geographically and that shares borders with India and China. Seven cases of methodologically. Yet, tourism– animal interactions are COVID- 19 have been reported there; the first case was varied and ubiquitous (Markwell 2015). How the reduc- documented in a tourist from the USA who was visiting tion of tourism in response to the COVID- 19 outbreak Bhutan (Ongmo & Parikh 2020). Bhutan, like many de- affected other mammals in different tourism settings and veloping countries, has insufficient medical personnel and different countries remains unknown. Therefore, in this facilities to respond to outbreaks of the severity that have paper, we systematically reviewed the impacts of the pan- occurred in other parts of the world. Countries like Bhutan demic on mammals, in order to highlight the position of underscore how our modern ability to travel quickly to mammals in the COVID-19 environment without inter- virtually any country in the world, which resulted from national tourism. the widespread existence of the low-cost carriers and more open borders, has fuelled this pandemic and put people METHODS and other mammals living in previously inaccessible regions at risk. Rationale People concerned with the conservation of natural re- sources view this pandemic as a call to action (Gillespie The aim of the present study is to identify how the & Leendertz 2020). It provides opportunities to consider COVID- 19 outbreak affected non-human mammals at more carefully how humans interface with nature. This tourism destinations. To investigate its impacts, we sys- review responds to the call by focusing on the lives of tematically searched academic literature, preprints, and Mammal Review (2021)  22 Te Mamml Scey ad Jh Wly & Sn Ltd 2 R. Usui et al. Impacts of the COVID- 19 pandemic on mammals online news articles. We relied on secondary data sources Databases so we could extensively characterise what happened to mammals at the start of the pandemic, when travel re- We searched the following databases for preprints and peer- strictions were imposed. Travel restrictions halted all but reviewed articles: SCOPUS, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, the most urgently needed field research, making it im- JSTOR, bioRxiv, and OSFPREPRINTS. We collected online possible to collect data on mammals in their natural news articles by searching GDELT, National Public Radio settings. Our systematic review of scientific papers and (NPR), and Google News. We conducted all the searches online news articles provides coverage of a wide geo- between 22 April and 28 July 2020. Using Google Translate graphical range of diverse species in varied tourism con- to interpret key words and article titles, we included in our texts. Fig. 1 shows the step- by- step process of our news stories searches articles published in English, Spanish, systematic review. Portuguese, French, Russian, Croatian, Polish, and German. Search strategy Screening process for article validity and topic The aim of our search strategy was to produce a general list of research and online news articles published after To check the validity of the news articles, two authors the start of the COVID- 19 outbreak that were focussed independently screened the news sources. We followed on tourism.
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