Instagram is Raising Awareness about Abusive Wildlife Selfies

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Photos like this fuel animal abuse and the illegal wildlife trade. Instagram has launched a campaign to educate users about the harm wildlife selfies can cause. Tigertemple by Dmitri 1999. CC BY 3.0

Wildlife selfies can be seriously problematic. In October, National Geographic published an investigative article on the trend of “selfie safaris,” in which tourists pay money to take pictures of themselves interacting with wild animals. This practice fuels animal abuse and threats to wild animal populations. In light of reports from National Geographic and other organizations, Instagram is stepping up.

In order to educate users about the harm caused by wildlife selfies, Instagram has initiated a new alert system. When users enter a hashtag that is related to wildlife selfies or the illegal wildlife trade, they will receive a pop-up warning them of the dangers associated with those activities. Users will then be able to follow links to more information about wildlife selfies and the illegal wildlife trade.

Instagram is not releasing much information on which hashtags will trigger the warning, to make it harder for users to preemptively avoid them.

There are several reasons why wildlife selfies are harmful, which National Geographic has explained in depth. Most of the animals that are used in selfies, such as sloths, experience extreme stress when being handled by humans. “Hugging” sloths for selfies can thus lead to significant health problems for the animals. There is also the fact that many of the creatures used for selfie safaris are plucked from the wild, therefore furthering the decline of wild populations.

Lastly, many animals are held in prison-like conditions between selfies. Others, like elephants and dolphins, have to be abusively broken in before tourists can ride or swim with them.

By paying to take wildlife selfies and ride elephants, tourists are furthering the abuse of wild animals. Sharing their photos on instagram is even more problematic, as it encourages others to take selfie safaris. Instagram hopes that its new alert system will help to curb these trends.

Click Here for the Original Article by Natasha Daly of National Geographic

Published by Josh Gross

Wildlife, social science, conservation, and scicomm.

33 Thoughts

  11. Hi, I have read this blog posts and I absolutely agree with the awareness you’re trying to raise here. I am currently a safari guide in South Africa and am trying to share my experiences with everyone and help show how wild animals belong in the wild and that it is us who are encroaching upon them. It would be greatly appreciated if you have a look at my blog samhankss.wordpress.com and let me know what you think. Many thanks in advance.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Sam,

      I visited one of your posts and left a comment there. Your blog looks great, and the post I viewed was well-written as well. My only complaint is that the link to your blog that’s connected to your Gravatar profile, lifeasasafariguide.wordpress.com, doesn’t seem to work. When I clicked on it I received an error message that said, “lifeasasafariguide.wordpress.com doesn’t exist.” I was still able to get to your blog through a little bit of online sorcery, but you should probably fix that link as soon as you’re able. You don’t want to miss out on too much traffic!

      Thanks for the kind words about my post!

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      Reply

          4. That’s perfectly understandable, I was just curious. I’ve been watching a live safari program based out of the Sabi Sands for a number of years, which is why I asked. I know that rhino poaching is a serious problem, so please don’t give out any more details than you’re comfortable with!

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  12. Pingback: Instagram is Raising Awareness about Abusive Wildlife Selfies — The Jaguar | huggers.ca

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