PETA WATCH

A NEW study released by the University of East Anglia in Britain has made a bizarre PETA-style claim: that wildlife documentary makers are infringing animals' rights to privacy by filming their most private and intimate moments on camera.

Film studies lecturer Brett Mills claims that footage of animals giving birth in their burrows or mating crosses an ethical line that film-makers should respect.

'We have an assumption that humans have some right to privacy, so why do we not assume that for other species, particularly when they are engaging in behavior that suggests they don't want to be seen?

'We can never really know if animals are giving consent (to being filmed), but they do often engage in forms of behavior which suggest they'd rather not encounter humans,' he said

But the BBC's natural history unit says that filming animal behavior results in minimal disruption to the animals and that studying them is crucial for wildlife conservation.

'Natural history films play a major role in spreading knowledge of their work. And understanding the world around is vital in the continuing endeavour to preserve our ecosystem,' it said.

(Via Glenn)