Habituating wild primates to human presence for tourism generates conservation revenue but creates welfare risks. Best practice standards protect individual animals.
Primate ecotourism habituation creates a welfare paradox: it funds conservation that protects populations while creating welfare risks for the individuals involved. Habituated primates face elevated disease transmission from humans, reduced ability to avoid human threats and chronic low-grade stress from regular human presence. Best practice standards that enforce strict distance rules, visitor limits, time restrictions, mandatory health screening for visitors and regular health monitoring for animals are essential to balance conservation revenue against individual welfare costs. Poorly regulated ecotourism programmes expose individual animals to disease and stress without adequate conservation benefit.