TikTok is an influential and engaging social media platform that has extensive viewership around the world. Many videos on the platform feature wildlife encounters that put people and wildlife at risk of harm and promote unethical interactions. Currently, TikTok does not include the ability for users to report wildlife harassment, unethical wildlife handling, and illegal activities involving wildlife on their app. Without TikTok’s moderation of content, creators speaking out against these interactions will continue not to be taken seriously. Equally important is empowering the many experts, including conservationists, environmentalists, biologists, and students on TikTok with the proper reporting tools when these videos appear, especially on the For You Page, that often features problematic human-wildlife interactions. This petition calls on the social media platform TikTok to immediately implement adequate reporting tools and change their community guidelines to enable users to report irresponsible and potentially illegal wildlife interactions in the videos posted to their platform.

 

The Issue:

As concerned content creators on TikTok, it is becoming increasingly evident that the wildlife content being distributed on the app is troublesome and often disturbing. That is because the videos show problematic behavior, including: 

- Feeding wildlife food that can make them sick

- Poaching species from the wild

- Illegally keeping injured or abandoned wildlife as pets

- Habituating wild animals to human presence through feeding or handling

- Approaching wild animals at an unsafe distance

- Participating in activities that can lead to the spread of zoonotic diseases 

- Promoting the exotic pet trade of endangered species

- Promoting unwarranted harm or harassment of wild animals

TikTok has extensively benefitted from content featuring unethical wildlife encounters. Videos that feature these ill-advised interactions often rack up millions of views, including high numbers of comments, likes, and shares, from which creators and TikTok alike can benefit monetarily. Users who receive viral attention from their unethical or potentially illegal videos then continue to post similar videos, creating a positive feedback loop for themselves. Understandably, this content created by users is not TikTok’s fault. However, allowing the content to flourish without any moderation is irresponsible on the companies behalf. 

 

Why This Matters:

Wildlife populations are declining. The monitored population sizes of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians have declined an average of 68% between 1970 and 2016, according to World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Living Planet Report in 2020. With this in mind, it is critical that people engage with wildlife and nature in healthy and responsible ways without becoming a hindrance to them. 

Not only are wildlife populations in decline, but the welfare of wildlife is extremely impeded when humans unnecessarily interfere. According to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources website: “Taking animals from the wild prevents them from learning about natural enemies and other necessary survival skills.” This information applies directly to the countless videos of people taking animals from the wild and labeling them as “rescue” videos when in reality, they are making the wildlife their pet. Another example of concerning content would be those that depict feeding wildlife. This is known to interfere with their health. These types of videos are popular on TikTok with raccoons and deer. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture: “Human food is not healthy for wild animals, and they do not need food from humans to survive. Wild animals have specialized diets, and they can become malnourished or die if fed the wrong foods. Also, animals cannot distinguish food from wrappers or foil and can get sick eating these items.”

Another aspect regarding why this matters is that in many places, these activities are illegal. As an example, the BC Wildlife Act Section 33.1(1)(a)(b) states: A person must not intentionally feed or attempt to feed dangerous wildlife, or provide, leave or place an attractant in, on, or about any land or premises with the intent of attracting dangerous wildlife. In this province, dangerous wildlife includes bears, cougars, coyotes, or wolves. This also includes wildlife prescribed as potentially dangerous wildlife. Additionally, in many places, keeping wildlife as pets is illegal. For example, in the case of irresponsible raccoon videos that notably stand out on the app, according to the BC SPCA website: “It is illegal to keep raccoons as pets in BC.” 

Often, the animals taken from the wild are entirely healthy or need a professional rescue center. According to the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society: “It is illegal to care for sick, injured, or orphaned wildlife in Calgary unless you are a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. To ensure the safety and health of people and wildlife, members of the public should generally avoid handling wildlife. Wild animals can inflict serious injury and can be carriers of disease and parasites transmittable to humans and domestic animals. You should not attempt to assist an injured or orphaned animal if there is a risk to personal safety or the safety of others. If you find an orphaned or injured wild animal, call CWRS. If the animal poses a threat to public health or safety, call the local animal control office or police department for assistance.”

Close interactions with wild animals can cause the spread of diseases between animals and people. Diseases that can be spread from animals to people and cause illness are zoonotic diseases or zoonoses. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention they indicate that: “Zoonotic diseases are caused by harmful germs like viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi. These germs can cause many different types of illnesses in people and animals, ranging from mild to serious illness and even death. Animals can sometimes appear healthy even when they are carrying germs that can make people sick, depending on the zoonotic disease.” Their website states that scientists estimate that more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people can be spread from animals and that 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals. This is extremely important to note since the global community is still battling with the effects of the coronavirus.

Often users will show feeding wildlife, and they will have good intentions, but in general, feeding wildlife is discouraged. For example, according to FindLaw.ca “In general, feeding any wildlife is illegal under animal harassment laws: “Harassment” is legally considered any action that interrupts an animal’s “normal behavior patterns,” so this includes trapping, petting, or feeding most animals. Most states also have specific laws regarding “big game” mammals. Even if feeding wildlife is not illegal where you live, it is discouraged for the safety of animals and humans by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.” We must remember that human intervention is always a wild animal’s last hope for survival, never its best hope.

 

Who We Are:

We are various content creators on TikTok promoting ethical wildlife and environmental interactions through educational videos. Our goal is to entertain, educate, and help users develop a better understanding and appreciation for our natural world. Although the content we create can get ideal and ethical wildlife content out there, we cannot do this alone. We need TikTok to create a space where wildlife and humans can both flourish. You can find our accounts on TikTok under the usernames:

- @invasivespeciesguy

- @wildlife_with_clark 

- @whichbetty

- @wrenwoodson

- @lillybyrd27

- @chaoticforager

- @laceyann_34

- @pacificnorthwestkate

- @birds_hawaii_pastpresent

 

What Change We Want:

This petition calls on TikTok to create better reporting tools for irresponsible and potentially dangerous wildlife videos posted on their platform. “Animal cruelty” is already a category under which users can report video content. However, having reported multiple videos under that category, videos, as indicated, do not meet the guidelines to be removed. The new reporting tools would indicate: “Irresponsible Interactions with Wildlife.” Within this reporting category, there would be three subheadings as possible criteria to meet the reporting category. These would include “Feeding Potentially Dangerous Wildlife,” and “Depictions of Harassing Wildlife,” and “Depictions of Poaching Wildlife Including Kidnapping or Killing Wildlife.” 

After users report videos that violate community guidelines, the videos would either be removed from the platform, or TikTok would include content warnings on the videos, akin to other notifications that the platform already has on other types of reported videos. Examples of these warnings could be:

- This Video Violates Ethical And Safety Concerns for Interacting With Wildlife

- The Action Depicted May Result in Injuries

- The Action Depicted is illegal in Specific Regions or without Proper Permits

- The Action Depicted May Result in Disease Transmission

 

The Bigger Picture:

We realize that many creators talk about wildlife and interact with them responsibly. For example, many rehabilitation centers, wildlife biologists, researchers, and bird banders post content explaining what they are doing and why it’s important. For example, why they may have a raccoon, fawn, or bird in their care that they are touching or feeding. Some accounts discuss crucial invasive species mitigation and demonstrate how to do so while educating users on the app. These videos should not be removed or impacted by the new reporting tools. These videos are important for engaging people in educational and informative ways to develop a greater appreciation and understanding of our natural world. Touching, feeding, and interacting with some wildlife species requires a higher level of training, licensure, and adherence to various wildlife laws and safety concerns. Accounts managed by zoos and aquariums, wildlife rehabbers, and biologists often show these ethical wildlife interactions because they are trained and permitted through national or regional programs. Responsible TikTok wildlife content creators limit their interactions with wild animals to what is necessary. They do not create content that harasses or negatively impacts wild animals and their habitats.

Without these critical reporting tools, TikTok incentivizes creators to behave in ways that harm wildlife and their habitats in their quest for internet fame. Promoting the feeding, enticing, petting, or stealing of animals from the wild on TikTok essentially encourages taking the “wild” from wildlife. The animals may lose their healthy fear of people, increasing their chances of becoming injured or killed. As general advice, giving wildlife space, viewing them from a distance, and monitoring them if suspected of being sick, injured, or orphaned is never a bad idea! Knowing when to call a rescue center or expert is equally as important. 

I know many people who have downloaded TikTok and then deleted the app only a few days later once they saw these types of videos. People must take responsibility for their actions and become aware of their impacts. However, TikTok, as the company that hosts these problematic videos, plays an equally important role. 

Thank you