Richard Collins: Are we in danger of 'liking' nature to death?

Excessive nature tourism is causing wildlife disturbances

Social media is a major contributor to nature tourism and photography say researchers. However it is increasing direct and indirect disturbance to wildlife. Direct disturbances include predation and disruptions to breeding and feeding. Indirect impacts include diseases and increased poaching of flora and fauna

Yet each man kills the thing he loves — Oscar Wilde

On Limerick’s O’Connell Street in late 1960, a television set was playing in a shop window. People in the east of the country had access to British TV, but we in the west had no service. On June 1 of that year Telefís Eireann had begun transmitting. Seeing those snowy black-and-white images was, therefore, a memorable experience. Éamon de Buitléar and Gerrit van Gelderen would use ‘the box’ to change hearts and minds and give wild creatures a media voice. The BBC’s David Attenborough led an extraordinary cultural transformation worldwide.