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Do Nature Films Deny Animals Their Right to Privacy?

Imagine if a film crew, without your permission, stormed into your home and filmed you in your most private moments. Makers of wildlife documentaries do just that to non-human animals, and are denying these animals their right to privacy, according to new research published in the current issue of Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies.

Animals obviously cannot sign release forms, but Brett Mills from the University of East Anglia still argues that animals have a right to privacy, which he acknowledges is a challenge for production teams.

“The aim of (my) research is to encourage debate, especially within the contemporary environmental context where it is now commonplace for us to question the impact of human movement and behavior around the globe,” explained Mills, a senior lecturer in the School of Film and Television Studies. “In addition, though, perhaps there is an argument for some species, in some circumstances, not to be filmed. At the moment it seems that such arguments are never put forward.”

He added, “This is an important debate for two reasons. Firstly, wildlife documentaries are usually seen as important pieces of public service broadcasting, and it's therefore worth us thinking about the ethical contexts within which such productions exist. Secondly, such documentaries are the key way in which many people 'encounter' a range of species from all over the globe, and so they therefore contribute to how we think about other species and human/animal interactions. By exploring what wildlife documentaries do, and how they do it, I hope to contribute to environmental debates at a time when the global effects of human behavior are rightly under scrutiny.”

For our own species, we generally make a distinction between what is public and private, although paparazzi often cross the line. Nevertheless, we can still take legal action or speak out against violations. At the heart of this argument is: Do animals even have a right to privacy?

http://news.discovery.com/animals/do-nature-films-deny-animals-their-right-to-privacy.html
 
When the animals demand an outhouse, stop crapping on my lawn and take their reproductive habits undercover, we can talk about their "privacy" being violated.
 
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