Let’s Promote Responsible Photography: Avoiding Selfies with Animals

Costa Rica, always at the forefront in topics of animal conservation, is giving strength to the #stopanimalselfies campaign, which is creating awareness about avoiding selfies or up-close photographs of animals.

While it is true that being near a wild animal is a wonderful experience, we must remember to keep a distance in their territory, as we can put both ourselves and the animal at risk, which is not worth the social media “likes”.

Since 2019, Costa Rica has been a promoter of the #stopanimalselfies campaign with the intent of creating awareness and being more respectful when interacting with animals in nature.

Being close to a sloth might not sound so dangerous to us, but the purpose is to keep some distance when photographing, as otherwise it is considered animal abuse.

#stopanimalselfies Campaign

The campaign’s objective is to create awareness about the adequate treatment that a sustainable tourism destination must guarantee to the wildlife and the visitors. With the hashtag and a photo of a stuffed animal, the idea is to write “I don’t mistreat wild animals for a selfie”.

Starting now, in the Pura Vida nation, we will stop seeing people taking selfies while hugging sloths and petting caimans. In fact, the direct contact experiences between wildlife and humans for entertainment is an inadequate and illegal practice, especially in a country where almost 40% of international tourists claim that one of the top reasons for traveling to Costa Rica is to observe the flora and fauna, according to a survey held by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (also known as ICT).

Learn more about this initiative by downloading the file: “Ethical Code for Photos and Selfies Cruelty Free with Wildlife”.

To know more about this campaign visit: https://stopanimalselfies.org/

Now that you are familiar with this campaign, we motivate all our clients to practice sustainable and responsible tourism, including not putting the wildlife that inhabits our country at risk.