The Amazon rainforest is famous for its diverse wildlife. And the number of tourists who want to take selfies with its fascinating animals is rising fast.
Sadly, this has led to the exploitation of sloths, caimans, pink river dolphins, anacondas, and many more animals, who belong in the wild. Many people offering wildlife selfies in the Amazon search treetops for sloths to steal. These typically calm, gentle animals are snatched from their natural habitats, forced to live in noisy, chaotic environments, and repeatedly passed around from tourist to tourist.
Among the 34 billion images posted by 700 million people on Instagram, our initial investigation shows there are tens of thousands of selfies on Instagram taken with wild animals. These photos capture a moment of shareable joy for people, but for many of them, the animals' stress and suffering is left out of the frame.
Many people see friends who post selfies of themselves hugging or holding wild animals and sadly are encouraged to take their own photos.
Don't be part of this ugly picture. Sign our Wildlife Selfie Code, and commit to cruelty-free selfies.
