Captive Red Panda (January 03, 2006)

This cute animal is a Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens), a small herbivorous mammal. It is quite different from the classic stereotype of panda - it looks like a fox, and it is just a little bigger than a cat (by the way - it is also knon as "FireFox", and it has given the name to the popular web browser Mozilla Firefox). In nature, it lives in India, Nepal and China, where it is considered "Endangered" - it is facing a very high risk of extinction. I've taken this photo in the "La Torbiera" zoo, few month ago.

Photographing animals in captivity is a controversial topic. I think that everyone would prefer to photograph in the wild - but not everyone can afford a trip to Africa or, in this case, to Asia to photograph the animal into its natural enviroment. A photo taken in captivity has the same value of a photo taken in the wild? This is a matter of personal opinion: for sure, both presents some difficulties. In the wild you have to know where and when you can observe an animal, and you have to get close without scaring it. In captivity, getting close is not a problem, but you have to find a framing that elimites the human elements (unless you deliberately choose to include them). Often, you don't have the possibility to photograph in the best light (sunrise and sunset) and you have to consider various difficulties (noisy crowd, fences, ect).

Of course, you have to be aware of the limitations of the photos taken in captivity. While there is not difference between a "portrait" photo taken in captivity or in the wild, it is rare to capture behavioral or environmental photos in a zoo: if you want to photograph a lion chasing a gazelle, if have to visit Africa - no way you will see it in a zoo ;-)
In my opinion this reed panda qualifies as "portrait photo" - it isolates the subject from its environment, and its main purpose is to show the beauty and the cuteness of this animal. I think that a photo as this one has the same value both in the wild and in captivity - it does not depict a behavior or the environment (that are different between wilderness and captivity), but it "just" shows the animal - that is the same both in nature and in a zoo. 

Is it ethical to keep an animal in a zoo? Ethics are another important aspect related with photography and, again, there is not a right answer for everyone: it is a matter of personal opinion. Some animals suffer from their captive condition - even though the zoos had been greatly improved from 10 or 20 years ago, some animals don't have nearly as much freedom of movement as in the wilderness. On the other hand, animals in a zoo don't have the fear of being killed by predators, nor they have to fight for food; they have an easier life than in the wild, and sometimes they are well cared by people that truly love nature and animals. Moreover, some zoos have a great educational value, since they allows to admire animals that otherwise you would never see. 

Even photographin an animal in the wilderness raises ethical issues. Sometimes the photographers interfere so much with the animal's life that they change their behaviours - some animals had become so tame that they take food from the your hands (this is not necessary a bad thing - but for sure it is not 100% natural). In other situations, istead, the behavior of man may stress the animal - an example is nest photography, that requires a deep knowledge of the bird's behaviour to avoid disturbirding its activities.

In conclusion, I prefer to photograph in the wild, but sometimes I take photos also in zoos and similar structuters, and I don't consider the photo taken in captivity as inferior or "fake", as far as they are labelled as captive. It would be misleading to pass a photo taken in captivity as wild: a causual observer might think that you can photograph exotic animals in your backyard, or that the photographer has a kind of supernatural capabilities to get close to wildlife and to find wolves, linxes, bears - while actually the photos had been taken in zoos as the famous Bayerische Wald National park or La Torbiera.

Do you have comments or questions?

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