Contributed by: kellyseal on Thursday, September 28 2017 @ 07:11 am
Last modified on
Animal rights activists are up and arms over the latest Tinder profile craze – posting selfies with large animals, specifically tigers, in an effort to impress potential dates.
PETA sent a formal request to Tinder asking the company to take a more active approach to condemning these photos and to ban tiger selfies altogether, citing that they are exploitative. Tinder responded in kind by posting a blog on its website, asking users to remove these selfies out of respect for other daters.
PETA noted in its letter that the practice is cruel because the tigers have to be caged, tied down or drugged in order to take the photo. Animals used as so-called “photo props” were typically taken from their mothers as babies and subject to abuse. When they grow older, they become too dangerous to handle and end up being locked in cages.
The letter says: “Not only are these types of photos cruel to animals, unaware Tinderlings might also mistake them for cute, harmless pictures and be prompted to take part in this abusive industry themselves. The problem is so great that there are entire blogs dedicated to "Tigers of Tinder" and "Tinder guys with Tigers."
Last year, photos circulated with President Trump’s sons Eric and Donald posing with a lion they had killed on a hunting safari in Africa. This generated a lot of negative publicity, but it seems to have had an influence on the kind of animal-domination selfies people want to take and share.
Contrary to the popularity of tiger selfies on Tinder, these photos don’t actually generate more dates. Research has shown that tiger selfies are controversial and “don’t really resonate with swipers,” according to a survey from dating site Zoosk.
"It’s time for the tiger selfies to go. More often than not, these photos take advantage of beautiful creatures that have been torn from their natural environment," Tinder said in a July 28 blog post. The timing happened to coincide with International Tiger Day on July 29th. "Wild animals deserve to live in the wild. PETA says now is the time to rid the platform of tiger photos in honor of International Tiger Day on Saturday July 29th, and we could not agree more."
Tinder also encouraged users to use the #notigerselfies to promote the request, and offered a list of other more environmentally-friendly photo ideas as substitutes, such as planting a tree, walking to work, volunteering at an animal shelter, drinking wine instead of water, and enjoying a vegan meal.
Tinder also pledged to donate $10,000 to non-profit animal rights organization Project Cat.