Photo prop animals: Don't aid a barbaric industry

Photo-Prop animals: Don't aid a barbaric industry


While on their travels to exotic lands such as Thailand, Japan and China, many tourists may come across people holding beautiful wild animals in public areas.
In this age of smart phones and social media, thousands will get the urge to get a photo with this animal and post it to their Facebook or Instagram pages for their friends to see (paying a small charge to the handler of the animal of course), and giving them a keep sake of themselves with a beautiful creature.

However if these tourists were to delve deeper into the story of these exotic animals, they may not be handing money over or getting a picture so quickly.


Photo-prop animals as they are referred to will usually consist of small animals such as Slow Lorises, Gibbons, Lion Cubs, Bear Cubs,  Fennec Foxes, capuchin Monkeys and others that are easy to handle.

 Most of these animals will have been removed from their natural habitats and from their parents (who are commonly killed as the try to stop their cubs from being taken) and get kept in inappropriately small cages on an inappropriate diet. 

They'll get given drugs to make them more docile, many times have their teeth and/or nails removed so they are less dangerous to handle, and then get paraded around busy streets on the off-chance that an unknowing tourist will pay money for a picture with it.

Taking these wild animals through busy streets is another form of torture. This is because due to the loud noises, flashing cameras and constant handling by the animals handler as well as by paying tourists, the animal will be put through a monumental amount of stress which is incredibly cruel.

So please, if you decide to travel to a foreign country and come across photo prop animals, do not pay these people money for a picture, as this funds the barbaric industry.

-Thomas Glen

Facebook.com/goodnaturepage

Fennec Fox image: Bruno D'Amicis