Filming animals in the wild 'is a breach of their privacy'

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE FOR MAILONLINE
Updated:

Animals filmed in their most intimate moments by wildlife documentary makers are having their 'right to privacy' breached, a leading academic has claimed.

Dr Brett Mills, of the University of East Anglia, said broadcasters treat all wildlife as 'fair game' and deny them privacy from prying human eyes.

He argued that just like people, animals have a basic right not to have their most private behaviour  -  such as mating, giving birth and dying  -  broadcast.

David Attenborough

Close attention: Sir David Attenborough, whose television work with wildlife has been criticised

The claim comes from Dr Mills, 38, a senior lecturer on film and television studies and expert on situation comedies, in a paper in Continuum: The Journal of Media and Cultural Studies.

His study analysed the 'making of' documentaries that accompanied the BBC wildlife series Nature's Great Events, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

He claimed that seeking out secretive creatures was 'unethical' and compared putting pin-hole cameras in birds' nests to intrusive Big Brother-style CCTV.

'Nests are a private space and to stick cameras inside is a form of CCTV,' he said.

'It might at first seem odd to claim that animals might have a right to privacy.

'Privacy, as it is commonly understood, is a culturally human concept.

'We can never really know if animals are giving consent, but they often do engage in forms of behaviour which suggest they'd rather not encounter humans, such as running away or building a burrow.

'The question constantly posed by wildlife documentaries is how animals should be filmed  -  they never ask whether animals should be filmed at all.'

He continued: 'There are many activities which animals engage in which are common to wildlife documentary stories but which are rendered extremely private in the human realm.

'Mating, giving birth, and dying are recurring characteristics in nature documentaries, but the human version of these activities remains largely absent from broadcasting.

'Human notions of privacy which rest on ideas of location or activity are ignored in terms of animals.'

But Piers Warren, 49, founder of Filmmakers for Conservation and principal at the International School of Wildlife Filmmakers rubbished Dr Mills' claims.

He said: 'How can you say whether an animal wants to be filmed? No animal will understand the concept.'

A spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also said there was no harm in filming wild animals.

He said: 'Wildlife documentaries can play an important role in increasing people's awareness and understanding of the many amazing species sharing our planet.

'If the animals aren't distressed when they're being filmed then, to use a sporting metaphor, we say, "No harm, no foul".'


 

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