Category: Social media

Worrying rise of taking selfies with animals.

Taking selfies and posing with animals is harmful to all concerned.

The selfie culture is extremely good news for the tourist industry in general as it has become a compulsion to instantly share every second of our lives whatever we might be doing. But it is proving extremely bad news for animals with the rise of animal selfies. It has become a worldwide obsession particularly amongst the young who cannot wait to impress their friends on social media of themselves riding, holding, hunting or just lazing beside wild animals. It is not a new phenomenon as it has been happening since the camera was first invented but with the advent of instant shareable photos on mobile phones animal selfies have increased dramatically.

According to World Animal Protection there has been nearly a 300% increase since 2014 of animal selfies posted on Instagram.

Narcissistic need to share every second of our lives.

Whether it be a tiger, elephant, koala bear, snake, monkey or a cute baby animal of any sort, everyone wants a photo with one and they often go out of their way to obtain one regardless of any stress or suffering caused to the animals. In Japan you can take a selfie with an exotic animal while sitting in a cafe having a coffee. We have a generation that has little or no respect for animals in general and just view them as cuddly toys and not living creatures. Ironically most people who participate in taking these selfies do it to show their love for animals.

The travel industry in many countries encourages this behaviour by providing trips to establishments which cater for this need so we have tiger attractions where the tigers are usually drugged, lion and cheetah meeting, elephant riding, holding baby monkeys or koala bears and swimming with captive dolphins. These and many others are all part of the animal selfie craze.

Tourits on a beach manhandling a dolphin
Tourists manhandling a dolphin. We have no respect for animals anymore or understanding of conservation.

Few ask the question of where the animals they are photographing come from and how they are obtained. And even more relevant, what happens  when they are no longer cute or become unmanageable. The answer is of course that they are discarded, killed, eaten or languish for the rest of their lives in a cage.

The use of wild animals in this way is another factor in all the exploitation and abuse of wildlife and is both an animal welfare concern and a conservation one as many of the animals used are vulnerable or endangered. A study in Latin America showed that 20% of animals used in the tourist trade were endangered and 60% protected by international law.

We ignore our health and safety just for a photo that is soon forgotten.

Those that participate in the hunt for more and more unusual and exotic animals to be photographed with often fail to realise the danger they are often putting themselves in. This is particularly so when encountering animals in the wild rather than captive ones in an attraction. Common sense and responsibility for their our own health and safety tends to be ignored and can lead to tragedy.

A couple walked up to a bison in Yellowstone Park, and tried to take a selfie only to be trampled and in 2015, an American woman in a South African lion park ignored warnings to close the car window while taking photographs, allowing a male lion to get within a yard of her before jumping and mauling her to death. A well known welsh rugby player suffered horrific injuries to his hand while trying to stroke a lion. Our increasing detachment from nature and our insistence of seeking thrills and entering wild places is making this kind of incident more common. It often results in the death of one or both participants and highlights our complete ignorance of the capabilities of wild animals and how we should act near them.

Instagram now issuing a warning.

Following a petition sent to Instagram they have produced a ‘wildlife warning’ page which monitors hashtags that mention the words animal selfie. A page pops up which warns users of the suffering caused to the animals.

It is of course difficult for anyone to resist the once in a lifetime chance for a selfie with an animal, but it is not worth the risk to the animal or yourself to do so in most cases. Selfies should only be taken from a safe distance, when the animal is in its natural habitat, able to move freely and when you are sure it is not under duress and not held captive.

Sign up to the World Protection selfie code.

Sign up to the selfie code

Related articles:

Tourists abroad risking life and limb.
The lure of ‘get up close’ animal attractions

Goldfish eating, social media and Neknominate

The recent prosecution by the RSPCA of Josh Coles for eating a goldfish that he had just won at a fairground in Stafford caused a stir on social media and revulsion in many people, but there are those that see it as just a bit of harmless fun. Josh Coles pleaded guilty and received a 12 month community service order, £385 costs and was strangely banned from keeping fish for 5 years.

“I didn’t think it was a big issue, I’m an animal lover”.

To its credit, the RSPCA stepped in early on when the craze became popular and has prosecuted many cases over the years but has perversely been accused of heavy handedness and expending money on pointless and worthless prosecutions as they are only fish.

Many people would suggest that as we pay little attention to fish slowly gasping for breath and asphyxiating on the quayside or on fish market slabs and that we find it entertaining to watch celebrities eat live small animals on reality shows why should we be so uptight about a goldfish.

What obviously shocked people the most was the fact that he ate a live goldfish, filmed it and displayed it on YouTube for no other reason than to gain fame and notoriety. It could also be that we identify goldfish and their ilk as pets not food, so we get upset when some inept unthinking person eats one at a funfair, in a Macdonalds restaurant or in the local pub.

Although these acts are mostly done under the influence of alcohol and for a dare there are many which are intentional and planned. Back in 2012, Louis Cole gained fame for regularly eating unusual live animals such as tarantulas and scorpions on his YouTube channel until he came unstuck after he ate a simple goldfish, as he didn’t realise that fish, by having a spine, are covered under anti-cruelty laws and he found himself under investigation by the RSPCA.

Eating live small animals is a common practice and a sure way of getting hits on social media which is awash with such videos. The sad part is that so many young adults appear to find it acceptable behaviour and amusing despite its lack of originality.

It was probably a surprise to many people that it is still lawful to continue this archaic tradition of giving goldfish as prizes in the first place, but it was yet another omission from the Animal Welfare Act back in 2006. Of course the frequency of these incidents could have been reduced if it had been banned as the fish would not have been so easily available.

Social media & Neknominate is mainly to blame.

The online drinking game of neknominate has fuelled the trend over the last few years. In 2014 a 22-year old named Gavin Hope prepared a cocktail then swallowed a pet goldfish and washed it down with a pint as a neknominate dare and was heavily penalised with a £330 fine and £3430 costs. Some take it too far and in the same year Sheldon Jeans swallowed a live frog and lizard and was prosecuted receiving £1,200 in costs.

Although such behaviour is nothing new, social media encourages far more of it in this modern era. There is a pattern to it though, as it mainly involves drunken young males who once they find themselves in court declare they didn’t mean any harm and believe it is funny.

“I didn’t think it was a big issue and I’m an animal lover”

In another incident a Robert Atkinson aged 20 was filmed by his friend Lewis Summers, who ironically worked in a solicitors office, swallowing a live goldfish in their local MacDonald’s having first put it in a pint of beer. Atkinson pleaded guilty and Summers guilty to aiding and abetting and they were both ordered to serve 40 hours of unpaid work and pay a £723 fine each, alongside a victim surcharge of £60. It was a premeditated action and yet he viewed himself as an “animal lover”.

“I didn’t think it was a big issue with it being a small animal. I’m an animal lover myself and I didn’t know I was committing an offence. I have thousands of followers on social media, and I posted the video because I knew it would go viral. Some people thought it was funny but there were a few who thought it was cruel.

Robert Atkinson in his defence.

Judges and Magistrates appear to take the issue seriously.

What is interesting is that magistrates and judges appear to agree that it is a serious act and have made this quite clear. At the trial of Gavin Hope presiding magistrate, David Randall, called it “a stupid thoughtless incident” and at the trial of Atkinson and Summers the judge, to his credit, summed it up in this way and I cannot put it any better:

The real question is how far down the evolutionary scale should we go in pursuing prosecutions of people who commit such acts of cruelty before it is viewed as nonsensical and heavy handed. Theoretically any lack of respect of a living creature must surely be tackled as who knows where it might lead if left unpunished.