Freya the walrus drew public attention after images and videos surfaced showing her scrambling onto boats at a bay in Oslo, Norway. — AFP
POSTING about wildlife on social media may help highlight their issues, but one must be careful not to misrepresent their nature and needs.
In October 2022, a video showing an elephant being fed popular snack pani puri (fried dough balls) by a roadside trader in Assam, India, went viral.
A news outlet, which also carried the video on its YouTube channel, called it adorable.
Activists quickly condemned the clip, which they said glossed over the animal’s malnourished state.
Wildlife SOS, a non-governmental organisation based in New Delhi, said many people were unaware that human food might be unsuitable for wildlife.
“It is not natural as roadside snacks are not part of elephants’ diet,” the NGO said in a statement on its website.
“On social media, wrong behaviours towards animals are mistakenly thought as amusing,” it added.
The incident underscores the dangers of sharing wildlife content on social media, as such posts may prioritise engagement over proper conservation practice.
It may also put the animals at risk.
For example, in August 2022, Norwegian authorities ended up euthanising Freya the walrus.
Freya became popular after photos and videos circulated showing it scrambling onto boats at the Oslo Fjord.
Tourists flocked to the bay to be photographed with the animal, raising safety concerns.
This prompted the local authorities to euthanise it.
Walruses are categorised as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
Wildlife content also risks oversimplifying the nature of animals by framing their behaviours through human perspective.
Writing in Scienceline, a portal on science topics, journalist Alice Sun warned about the danger of anthropomorphism.
Defined as the attribution of human traits to animals, posting such content might hinder people from seeing the natural world objectively, leading to misunderstanding about wildlife and how to interact with them, she noted.
However, some experts argue that anthropomorphism can be used to attract donations by portraying animals in character-driven stories.
Research led by Dr Ganga Shreedhar, an assistant professor who taught behavioural science at London School of Economics, revealed that this would likely evoke emotions among the audience.
“This may be because people are drawn to novel stimuli and human-centred stories on social media,” the study stated.
This, it concluded, would optimise engagement, subsequently attracting donations to wildlife causes. — By FARID WAHAB
