Wildlife photography can educate and inspire conservation action, but unethical practices including baiting, flush photography, and nest disturbance cause significant animal welfare harm.
Wildlife photography has an enormous potential to benefit conservation by building public connection and support. This potential comes with responsibility. The welfare of photographed animals must not be sacrificed for images, however compelling. Unethical practices — getting too close, using bait, disturbing nests, using drones without appropriate distance — cause real harm to individual animals and can undermine the conservation outcomes photography aims to support.