The promise of posthumanism in wildlife ecotourism: a set of case studies of veterinarians’ role at wildlife rehabilitation centers in Costa Rica

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explored wildlife rehabilitation centers (WRCs) in Costa Rica as a potential posthumanist model for wildlife ecotourism. Posthumanism attends to the rights, welfare, and agency of nonhumans to depart from a conservation biology ethos that focuses on the species-level, to consider all particular individual animals in wildlife tourist attractions (WTAs). A team of 16 US-based researchers composed of faculty, a wildlife rehabilitation professional, and 12 university students conducted a 16-day pilot study to understand the context of wildlife rehabilitation, veterinarian practices, and ecotourism operations at three WRCs and a veterinary teaching hospital. Three rehabilitation centers are rated using a posthuman multispecies livelihoods framework. Ethnographic insights highlight practical challenges in operating rehabilitation centers and also the ethical challenges in promoting individual rights, welfare, and agency. Findings suggest that the level of treatment toward each individual animal in WRCs and ecotourism sites differs, based on the actions and beliefs of human actors who hold power over nonhumans. A major unforeseen ethical dilemma arose during the study concerning the treatment of prey species, which foregrounds the need for future research on this topic. By attending to ethical beliefs in WTAs, WRCs show their potential as a pathway for posthumanist ecotourism.