A troubling trend of tourists attempt to take the perfect selfie with wildlife is causing injuries to the animals and the tourists as well, says an article on csmonitor.com, and officials are advising people to discontinue the quest.
Particularly when it comes to baby seals. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is warning people that the process of taking that supposedly cool vacation photo with a seal pup could lead to a disaster for either the pup or the photographer. In the case of some larger and more aggressive animals, the encounter may even lead to death.
Just last year, a woman and her daughter were attempting to take selfies in front of a group of bison that were only standing about six yards from the couple. One of the bison charged and ran down the mother, and she became the fifth person to be injured in an attack by a bison in 2015.
More recently, beachgoers in Argentina pulled a baby Franciscana dolphin from the surf and passed the animal around among the gathering crowd before leaving the dolphin to die in the sand. The social media sharing of the photos and videos led to a cry of outrage from conservation and animal rights groups around the world.
About a week later, a shark was dragged from the ocean near Palm Beach, FL, and pinned on the beach while selfie photos were taken. Fortunately, in this case, another man released the shark back into the ocean and it appeared neither the shark nor the man received any injuries.
New seal mothers often leave their newly-born pups on the beach while hunting and feeding, and NOAA officials are worried the pups will be harmed by potential photo takers.
“Getting too close to a wild animal puts you – and the animal – at risk,” NOAA warns. “It is normal for a mother seal to leave her young pup alone on the beach for up to 24 hours while she feeds.”
Seal pups are often too trusting and may even wander near humans. The risk is that the mother will return and see the humans as a threat to her or her youngster and may abandon the pup to fend for itself. Additionally, seals have quite a powerful bite and could cause significant damage.
NOAA recommends you stay at least 150 feet from any seals to avoid confrontations and risk the the animals and yourself.