Impact on Nature

Concerns of Photography

 

            It seems that photography of all things would be harmless to the rest of the world, but in all actuality it’s not.  There are many things that can go wrong with it when you are not careful about what you are doing when you are out there.  Tourists can affect animals in ways that I never thought possible.

            I always wondered why there are signs up at national parks saying, “Don’t feed the birds.” It never once occurred to me that this could cause them to become dependent on human food sources that they would forget how to hunt on their own and find their own food.  To me the idea of baiting animals into the perfect scene is ridiculous.  The articles didn’t focus on baiting but in a couple of them it was implied. 

            As was stated in the research paper where they tested the effects of photographers on the animals it amazes me that something as quiet as that can have such a large effect on the animals.  The shutter sound coming from a camera is not that loud, but it’s pretty scary when it has the same effects that the predators to the Anole have.  Their behavioral changes make me wonder what just walking through the school campus has on the animals that live in the environment. 

            When I read the Wikipedia article I was startled by the amount of bad that human interaction has on animals when people don’t understand what they are doing can harm the animals.  It amazes me that an animal can think the ship, where tourists are watching the young, is its mother.  This could be a serious threat in the animals that are endangered. 

            Finally, I do have one problem with the “Wildlife Photography Ethics & Philosophy.” In the blog the author states that you shouldn’t disturb birds nesting sight. I am a hunter and every time I’m out hunting I flush up pheasants and I chase deer over many miles of land to hunt them.  Should they show signs of distress like the animals that he talks about?

            Overall it amazes me how humans can disturb animals and decrease their breading success.  But as we have talked about it doesn’t surprise me because of how stupid, i.e. people walking up to bears and elk, some people can be.  With conservation efforts these  things can all be returned to their natural settings.