Gucci just released an advertisement campaign for their “Gucci Tiger” collection, which features pictures of models posing with live tigers. Although the major fashion house allegedly photographed the tigers separately from the models, the campaign pictures create visuals that portray the tigers as pets, featuring them in a grandiose house alongside models lounging on a couch or sipping tea within what appears to be in arm’s reach of the big cats.
Wild Animals Should Not Be Used as Props
The simple act of using wild animals as props or “actors” is harmful. To train wild animals, handlers will often forcibly remove a young animal from their mother several years before a natural separation would occur in the wild. Younger wild animals are much easier to train than older, stronger, and more aggressive animals. This premature maternal separation results in severe mental trauma for both the mother and infant that can last throughout a lifetime. This trauma can functionally increase an animal’s unpredictable and aggressive tendencies later in life, which only enhances the likelihood of endangering the public during interactions with these animals.
Further, the animals are mostly kept in barren conditions that prevent them from engaging in the species-specific behaviors necessary for achieving good welfare, as obtaining this is virtually impossible for big cats kept in captivity. These necessary conditions would include the following very costly factors: providing enough space, a secure enclosure, an acceptable diet, access to veterinary care, and proper mental stimulation. Unfairly, big cat “actors” will suffer through squalid conditions for a lifetime in captivity without ever having the ability to agree to working this cruel job in the first place.
“Animal actors” are often involved in shows or animal encounter experiences that incorporate the performance of trained behaviors, dangerous interactions with the public, and the continued spread of misinformation by falsely claiming that these shows help conservation efforts or only showcase natural behaviors that would be performed in the wild. Therefore, the abuse an animal endures for any entertainment purposes or media production never ends; it begins from the moment they are born, continues throughout a photoshoot or film set by forcing an animal to experience unnatural behaviors and environments, and endures throughout their lives in captivity.
Imagery of Captive Wildlife Normalizes and Glamorizes Captivity
While the act of possessing and training wild animals remains cruel enough, perhaps even more detrimental to wild animal welfare is the promotion of these animals in such proximity to the models. Creating and perpetuating images that encourage the depiction of tigers in unnatural human-centric environments drives demand for these animals as pets and contributes to the cruel private trade of big cats and detrimental wild population decline. Even when it appears relatively isolated, with the sharing power of social media, the exploitation of big cats portrayed as pets in one location of the world contributes to desire and further exploitation of them in their native habitats, leading to species decline in the wild.
The more people see wild animals in unnatural situations and placements, the more people believe that their wild population status is stable and that interacting with these dangerous animals is acceptable. While this mentality shift through improper exposure of wild animals in the media has been formally studied in chimpanzees, it goes without saying that the same effect likely occurs for all captive wild animals featured in popular culture. Importantly, since 1990, there have been hundreds of dangerous incidents involving big cats, involving mauled or lost limbs, bites, and deep scratches. Of these incidents, at least five were child and 20 were adult fatalities. These harrowing events, however, are unfortunately never the ones to go viral. Instead, videos showing cubs being passed around a circle of amazed tourists or performing circus-like stunts for a rowdy crowd are the ones that get most of the attention.
It Is Time for Corporate Responsibility toward Animals
Influential brands like Gucci have massive reach and therefore responsibility to ensure that they accurately portray animals to eliminate the possibility of contributing to harmful portrayals that lead to animal cruelty and species decline. This is especially true when the ad campaign is meant to pay tribute to tigers in honor of the Year of the Tiger, as Gucci claims. Other big-name fashion companies, including Dior and Prada, have committed to ending the exploitation of animals within the fashion industry by promoting wildlife diversity organizations based in China and by incorporating wildlife art pieces into clothing designs to raise awareness about wildlife conservation and animal protection.
How You Can Take Action
To help properly honor tigers and all other big cats susceptible to the devastating effects of the private trade, please consider helping support new legislation that will protect them. With less than 4,000 tigers left in the wild, their future depends on it. Reach out to your local lawmaker today in support of the Big Cat Public Safety Act! This legislation would ban the private ownership of most big cats and restrict public interactions throughout the United States.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Devan
Dear Reader,