Title – Tiger attacks trigger expert pleaSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 25th February 2009
Shark attacks will always grab the headlines, they tend to occur in locations travellers are familiar with or frequent regularly, but wildlife of all sorts can be very dangerous to travellers. In reality it is always locals who take the brunt of injuries and fatalities as their everyday activities take them into contact and conflict with the many dangerous species; those same animals which independent travellers often fly half way round the world to encounter.
The statistics for fatal Tiger attacks are not easy to find, but attacks on tourists are almost unheard of, that does not mean that independent travellers can be complacent. Between tigers, other big cats, hippos, crocodiles, snakes, bears, stray dogs, scorpions, mosquitoes, ticks, sharks and the many other potentially dangerous animals around the world; there are many precautions to take.
Some you can protect yourself effectively from, others you should avoid by not encroaching on their habitats and others yet you have to mitigate the risk and manage it. The sad fact is that the most dangerous of them all is the human; humans are responsible for more danger than any other to independent travellers.
Humans are substantially more of a threat to the tiger than it is to us and few independent travellers will place themselves in the kind of situation which led to the recent spate of deaths in Sumatra,
Indonesia.Date – 25th February 2009
Shark attacks will always grab the headlines, they tend to occur in locations travellers are familiar with or frequent regularly, but wildlife of all sorts can be very dangerous to travellers. In reality it is always locals who take the brunt of injuries and fatalities as their everyday activities take them into contact and conflict with the many dangerous species; those same animals which independent travellers often fly half way round the world to encounter.
The statistics for fatal Tiger attacks are not easy to find, but attacks on tourists are almost unheard of, that does not mean that independent travellers can be complacent. Between tigers, other big cats, hippos, crocodiles, snakes, bears, stray dogs, scorpions, mosquitoes, ticks, sharks and the many other potentially dangerous animals around the world; there are many precautions to take.
Some you can protect yourself effectively from, others you should avoid by not encroaching on their habitats and others yet you have to mitigate the risk and manage it. The sad fact is that the most dangerous of them all is the human; humans are responsible for more danger than any other to independent travellers.
Humans are substantially more of a threat to the tiger than it is to us and few independent travellers will place themselves in the kind of situation which led to the recent spate of deaths in Sumatra,
At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety alongside sessions on Destination Advice, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Transport Options and more. Wild animals are something to be aware of, not something to fear or to make you change your plans. Take local advice and you should be fine. We teach people firstly to quantify the risks (independent travellers are at far more risk from stray dogs and rabies than from tigers) and not to ignore threats, but to manage them.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us our Facebook Page and our Facebook Group. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.
For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.
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