Various news outlets have reported on the moment that an influencer, Tayane Dalazen, was bitten by a nurse shark while swimming off the Brazilian coast. But according to the BBC, in under a year no fewer than three influencers have been attacked.
The report goes a step further by highlighting evidence from a journal that both influencers and photographers are less likely to follow safety instructions.
This doesn’t surprise me one bit – and I suspect it’s a similar case on land. Earlier in the year I wrote an article about an incident where a photographer chased an owl around a field and refused to stop.
This past week, news broke that a stag in London’s Richmond Park was shot after attacking a man having a picnic. This wasn’t a photography-related incident, but the nature reserve is notorious for guests getting too close to the wildlife. And that includes photographers.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s a reason why the best wildlife photography lenses tend to be the expensive telephoto and super-telephoto variety. These optics are built precisely to enable photographers to get close enough without having to physically encroach on the animal’s territory.
And even with super-long lenses, you can still end up bothering wildlife. Skittish species, animals with young or animals in season can be easily spooked or aggressive.
I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of wildlife ethics right now – it’s a very broad subject – but if you leave this article with one thing in your mind, let it be this: if the animal’s behavior has changed, you’re probably too close and should slowly back off.
To be fair to the influencer involved in the latest wildlife incident, she was on an organized shark-diving trip and the BBC did report that “she says she 'wasn't there for social media' and didn't touch or provoke the shark”. And footage of the incident posted on Tayane's Instagram (above) shows that she didn't have a phone or camera in hand.
But these stories need to be told and creatives need to be warned, in a bid to help avoid incidents like this happening in the future. Tayane ended up with a big gash on her leg, but thankfully it was nothing worse. And kudos to her for talking about the experience and warning others.
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