As obvious as it may seem, one should never jump a fence into a wild animal enclosure to get an exciting selfie. Despite the irresistible urge for people to portray themselves as adventurous on Instagram, one flashy selfie is never worth risking their lives or the life of an innocent animal.
A zoo puts a fence between animals and visitors to keep both safe, and people are asked to respect those boundaries. Most do, and yet there are still bizarre stories of the bold ignoring those rules to get their own close encounter with the animals.
Most recently, the viral story of an Arizona woman who leaned over the fence into a jaguar enclosure took over the internet. However, the displeased jaguar was not fond of the woman’s intrusion and attacked her arm. According to the Dodo, she risked her life for the sake of a selfie.
The woman is not the first to do this. Animal Planet circulated a video of an intoxicated man who thought it was a good idea to jump into a lion enclosure for a selfie in India. A woman in Berlin was mauled by a polar bear after jumping into the bear’s waters, according to the Los Angeles Times. Furthermore, Yellowstone visitors have been trampled by wild bison after getting too close for a selfie, the Washington Post reported.
A study by the National Institute of Health found that those daring selfies have resulted in 259 deaths in the past six years. The majority of those who died were college-aged at only 22.
Weirdly, this seems to become a culture that normalizes dangerous behavior for the sake of selfies. National Geographic investigated the psychology of the risky selfie and the laissez-faire attitude towards animals that has widely been adopted. Because of people’s familiarity with wild animals through TV and numerous zoos, visitors too often think it is a good idea to get close for a picture.
This attitude is wrong and it is never a good idea to break zoo rules for the aesthetic of Instagram or social attention. Not only is this act foolish, but it also puts everyone’s life at risk.
Harambe, the gorilla whose zoo enclosure was trespassed on by a young boy in 2016, was killed because of the human-primate encounter. While NBC reported that there was debate over whether the 450-pound gorilla deserved to be shot, his death could have been avoided if people chose to respect the rules.
Breaking into an animal enclosure will get trespassers in legal trouble, too. According to the Animals Legal and Historical Center, a person can be charged with criminal trespassing for jumping into an animal enclosure.
Instead, consider less dangerous and invasive photo opportunities. If people are just dying for that selfie with a wild animal, the Atlanta Zoo offers a ‘Wild Encounters’ program where an employee will safely take you behind-the-scenes of animal enclosures, where there are tons off opportunities for unique pictures without ever having to jump a fence.
Rather than attempting to climb over a barrier for a selfie, people need to take their safety and the animals’ safety into serious consideration. One selfie is never worth risking someone’s life for hopeful social media fame.
