Films>> Animal Rights • UK
Filmmakers should assume a right of privacy for other species just as for humans, said Brett Mills, a film studies scholar from the University of East Anglia.
He said footage of animals giving birth or mating, which in the human realm are considered deeply private, crosses an ethical line. Mills compiled a report after reviewing scenes from the bbc’s 2009 wildlife series Nature’s Great Events.
The bbc’s Natural History unit contested the report, saying, “Technology gives wildlife filmmakers the ability to film animal behaviour with minimal disruption to the animal.
Such films are vital for...conservation.” But Mills believes filming animals amounts to a level of surveillance humans would most likely object to. “We can never really know if animals are giving consent...they engage in behaviour which suggests they’d rather not encounter humans,” he said.
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