Letter to the Editor: Ensure Tour Operators Practice Ethical Firefly-Watching Methods
LETTER TO THE EDITOR ENSURE TOUR OPERATORS PRACTICE ETHICAL FIREFLY-WATCHING METHODS A Tourism Malaysia advertisement currently aired over most radio stations makes a commendable attempt at promoting nature tourism, including firefly-watching in Kuala Selangor. Although Green Living encourages low-impact sustainable ecotourism as a means of cultivating a love of nature and the environment, we have serious concerns about the practices utilised by some tour operators involved in firefly-watching excursions. Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) members have complained that some local firefly-watching tour operators use flashlights and other artificial means to mimic the mating signals of congregating firefly populations in order to lure fireflies out towards the tourists in the boats. This disrupts the mating, feeding and resting patterns of the fireflies, and causes them to fly out into areas beyond their safe zones. The exhausted firelies, after circling around the boats and tourists in their...