Social Media warnings against selfies with animals

[Chlidonias]

Instagram has introduced 'content warnings' to any wildlife selfies that are uploaded with particular hashtags, the social media giant announced on Wednesday.
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Hashtags being targeted include #KoalaSelfie, #LionSelfie, #KoalaHugs, #TigerSelfie and #TigerPet.
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Instagram is not the first app to take a stand against wildlife pictures, with online dating app Tinder requesting that people not use 'tiger selfies' as their profile pictures.


Selfies Instagram are warning against - for a good reason | Daily Mail Online

There are some links to further articles at the bottom of that link.

 

[FunkyGibbon]

I have a picture from Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary of me holding a koala in 2012. Today I probably wouldn't do it but if I remember the prices and the proportion of guests doing it I imagine it adds about 50% to entry revenue. That obviously isn't a good enough reason to justify it but stopping it would have quite an impact on the zoo.

 

[Chlidonias]

Someone in Australia will know the details of this much better (e.g. @MRJ), but there actually are laws around koala interactions in Australian zoos. I think they vary between states, but technically they should all take into account the welfare of the koalas.

More important are the selfies with tigers and such-like. There's a line in the article regarding Tinder stating that the animals used in selfies are "torn from the wild" or some nonsense (it comes from PETA). While that certainly can be true - e.g. in Asia with monkeys or lorises - with tigers they would have been much better off describing the animal abuse which can go along with it (drugging, removal of claws and/or limb bones, etc). I think that would turn people off it more.

 

[FunkyGibbon]

More important are the selfies with tigers and such-like. There's a line in the article regarding Tinder stating that the animals used in selfies are "torn from the wild" or some nonsense (it comes from PETA). While that certainly can be true - e.g. in Asia with monkeys or lorises - with tigers they would have been much better off describing the animal abuse which can go along with it (drugging, removal of claws and/or limb bones, etc). I think that would turn people off it more.

Seeing a tiger selfie on Tinder always presents a conundrum
On the one hand someone is demonstrating that they either don't know or don't care that the animal is being mistreated, but on the other they are showing a willingness to visit zoological attractions in SE Asia, which is a key requirement for me!

 

[MRJ]

It is interesting that the reasons given by Instagram are envirometal and conservation based, not animal welfare based. Agree entirely with their reasons, but there are no conservation issues related to any aspect of koala keeping in Australia.