Letter: Baiting wild animals for images is unethical, flawed

Editor’s notice: This letter is in reference to the article “Wildlife photographer captures unique feasting fisher, angry fox image” which ran on Sudbury.com on March 2.

If this story is correct, then it’s deeply disappointing.

Baiting wild animals with grains, greens and fats to fabricate “unique interactions” will not be wildlife images. It is manipulation. It alters pure behaviour, creates synthetic competitors, and may enhance stress, aggression, illness transmission and dependency.

For territorial, wide-ranging carnivores like foxes and fishers, forcing them right into a concentrated meals website is irresponsible.

We can’t preach conservation on one hand and stage wildlife battle for clicks and calendar gross sales on the opposite.

A fox baring its tooth at a fisher over a human-created bait pile will not be an enthralling second to “laugh” at. It is a scenario we created. Celebrating that dynamic, and publishing it as if it’s some quirky woodland drama, ignores the moral duty photographers need to the topics they declare to respect.

Wildlife images ought to prioritize distance, endurance, habitat respect and non-interference. Setting up bait to attract animals in for dramatic imagery crosses a line that many moral photographers refuse to step over. There is a motive accountable organizations and competitions have strict guidelines round baiting.

It can also be disappointing to see a information outlet platform resembling yours, normalize this behaviour with none important examination of the ecological and moral implications. Stories like this threat sending the message that staging wildlife is suitable, or worse, admirable.

If we care about wild locations and wild animals, we have to do higher.

Respect the animal. Respect the ecosystem. Stop manufacturing moments at their expense.

Shaun Antle

Owner|Founder

Oh Me Nerves Photography (OMNP)

Sarnia