59. How to Spot Abusive Animal Situations on Social Media & Live Interactions with Devon Schowe
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Have you had wild animal photo opportunities while on vacation? Have you "liked" cute exotic animal videos on social? Are you dying for an opportunity to hold a baby monkey? If so, you may unintentionally be fueling a dark industry and promoting animal abuse.
Devan Schowe is the campaigns director for Born Free USA, an organization that works to ensure that all wild animals, whether living in captivity or in the wild, are treated with compassion and respect and are able to live their lives according to their needs. Devon works to increase public awareness of pertinent wildlife conservation issues and works to change legislation regarding practices that harm wild animals kept in captivity for exploitative purposes. If you want to know how to avoid supporting these dangerous practices unknowingly, this episode is for you!
Highlights
- How can "liking" a video on social media endanger wildlife?
- Why are seemingly innocent animal photo ops, not so innocent?
- The Big Cat Public Safety Act has passed! What does this mean?
What YOU Can Do
- Do not visit or in any way support places that exploit wild animals in the ways talked about.
- Report any abusive online content you see on the website or platform.
- Petition social media outlets to modify their definition of harmful animal content, um, to reflect a definition that is more in line with wild animal welfare.
- Don't view like, comment, save, post or share the content. Even dislikes or quoting angry reactions or comments will add to the overall popularity. So restraining from doing that even if you want to.
- Respectfully educate others.
Resources
- Born Free USA website
- Adopt a Monkey program
- Their Lives for Your Likes Report
- Tik Tok
- YouTube
Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!
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Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!
What difference for the world are you going to make today?