Regardless of Intention, All Wildlife Selfies Harm Animals

In a world in which connectivity to other human beings can be initiated and deepened more often online than IRL (in real life), the urge to share highlights of our lives via pixelated updates has become stronger and more frequent. The same principle holds true for wildlife biologists and conservationists, though perhaps (and ironically) at a cost to the very beings they dedicate their lives to protecting.

New Research on Wildlife Selfies

A new article argues that all wildlife selfies harm wild animals – even those shared by scientists with warnings or descriptions in the captions. This finding differs from the advice previously provided by specialists in the field; that pictures which feature humans and wild animals together may be shared so long as context is provided to demonstrate that the photo is not for “entertainment” purposes and unintentionally contributes to the exploitation of wild animals on the grounds of viewer misinterpretation.

While social media can function as a tool to help scientists promote awareness about species and the issues they face, this new research indicates that any photos that depict humans and wild animals together, even those which do provide context and disclaimers, perpetuate the desire for them as pets and increase the demand for illegal wildlife trafficking and harmful human-wildlife interaction experiences like photo ops or animal handling. For species already threatened with extinction, increases in these exploitative practices put them at higher risk.

Wildlife Selfies Drive Desire for Interaction with Wild Animals

To investigate this phenomenon, a research team showed 3,000 adults two mock Instagram images: one of a person in front of a wild mountain gorilla, and the other depicting a gloved hand holding a slender loris. Half of the photos had basic captions like “me with my research subject,” while the other half had more detailed captions explaining proper research protocols like permit approval and humane handling practices.

The results were shocking; although viewers who saw the Instagram posts with the more detailed caption recognized that the picture depicted research, more than half of the viewers agreed that they wanted to seek out a similar experience with the loris or gorilla. More troubling, over half of the viewers agreed that they would want these animals as pets and that the animals would make good pets.

The New Study Supports Born Free USA’s Research into Wildlife on Social Media

These findings are particularly concerning, as research conducted by Born Free in 2022 confirmed that online content featuring five of the most popular wild animals kept as pets in the U.S. (including grey parrots, wolfdogs, tigers, marmosets, and pythons) most often depicted them as exotic pets (65%) or in the wild (15%), with 81% of all videos showing direct physical interaction with a human.

Similarly, a study that examined the effects of viewing images featuring a close encounter between wild animals and humans showed that the closer the proximity of a human to an animal in an image, the more likely respondents were to think that the animal was not displaying a natural behavior and that the animal would make a good pet. This study has negative implications for “ambassador animal” experiences provided at zoos, which, despite claiming to have the goal of “visitor education,” clearly do not accomplish positive visitor learning by showcasing animals engaging in unnatural behaviors like handling, being hand-fed, or tolerating proximity to humans. Further, most zoo visitors that participate in wild animal interactions share these experiences on social media; ultimately increasing the amount and reach of these harmful images online.

Wildlife Professionals Must Take Care

Because of the harm even media intended to be educational likely causes wild animals, the author advises wildlife professionals to never include themselves in pictures with animals. Further, featuring infant animals and animals interacting with humans leads viewers to perceive them in ways that are counterproductive to conservation.

At Born Free, we believe that these new recommendations should also be followed by zoos and any other facilities that keep wild animals captive on the pretenses of “conservation” and “animal welfare,” as the science repeatedly confirms that depicting animals in these ways actively harms the animals they claim to respect and protect.

Keep Wildlife in the Wild,

Devan