Explore Sri Lanka by A Field Naturalist: Elephants

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Some helpful tips to be an ethical wildlife photographer

Wildlife photography is an essential tool to inspire the desire to protect wildlife. It has the power to turn people on to the wonder of nature. But we must remember to put the welfare of the subject first. Even though there are no clear guidelines a few basic principles that can help make the way clearer.

· Know the signs of the stress of your subject species – There is always a stress for the animals when we flock around their natural feeding and gathering places but we have to be very aware of our effects so that it can be minimized.

· Take special care at breeding season – Special care needs during this season. We have to avoid actions that might result in driving parents away from the young allowing them more vulnerable to predators.

· Not to destroy or alter the habitat for a better view or scene.

· Do not feed wildlife for a better shot and honor their wildness.

· Be transparent on how a photograph was made

Build your reputation as a wildlife photographer by doing it in a more responsible manner.

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Why you should not feed wild animals?

Feeding wildlife can lead to cause a number of serious problems.

They do not need food from humans to survive, and that food is not healthy for them. They have specialized diets and they can become malnourished or die if fed wrong foods. Also animals cannot distinguish food from wrappers or foil and can get sick eating these items.

Increase the chances of disease transmission by gathering too many animals in one place. Also it will lead to unnecessary crowding and competition and increase the chances of having fights and injuries among animals.

Lose the natural fear of humans and can be aggressive. Once they learn that they can panhandle for food they can become a nuisance. This is a common problem in Sri Lanka as most of the people feed wild elephants on roadside cause to lead attacks and Toque Macaques has become a nuisance in most of the places because of human feeding.

Increase the chances of road accidents as they tend to stay near the road.