Viewer perceptions (and misperceptions) of animal-visitor interactions with big cats and crocodilians on YouTube

Résumé fourni par la source

Animal-visitor interactions (AVIs) that involve “touching” captive wild animals are hugely popular, increasingly in-demand, and widely shared on social media. Social media may help raise awareness of conservation, and educate viewers, but the quality of information provided via AVIs varies, as does the treatment of the animals involved. Global standards for AVIs are lacking but various recent national-level codes and regulations call for increasing consideration of animal welfare (particularly for large, potentially dangerous animals). For accredited facilities, World Association of Zoos and Aquariums guidelines demand “respect” for the animals involved, and that AVIs are accompanied by animal welfare and conservation messaging. We described, and analysed the response to, 78 YouTube videos showing AVIs with captive “big cats” or crocodilians. Videos comprised predominantly promotional material, coupled with messaging that touched on conservation and animal welfare issues but lacked detail, and, in some cases, was potentially misleading. Both the videos themselves and viewer response to videos (assessed on the basis of video comments) revealed superficial “respect” for the animals, but there was little apparent appreciation of the “wildness” of the animals or of their place in the natural world. The sentiment of viewer comments was variable, but positive on average. We conclude that social media has considerable potential to perpetuate a potentially damaging perception of wild animals being “safe” and “protected” in captivity, where people seem to desire an unnatural relationship with wild animals and appear to be largely unaware of the welfare implications for the animals involved.

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