Amazon wildlife threatened by selfies

According to World Animal Protection, endangered animals are often captured, beaten and forced to perform for tourists.

This handout photo released on October 4, 2017 by World Animal Protection shows a tourist posing with a caiman in an unspecified location of the Amazon rainforest in Peru on March 5, 2017. (AFP)
AFP

This handout photo released on October 4, 2017 by World Animal Protection shows a tourist posing with a caiman in an unspecified location of the Amazon rainforest in Peru on March 5, 2017. (AFP)

Animal rights activists say some of the Amazon's most endangered animals are under threat because tourists are taking selfies with them. 

The World Animal Protection said in a report that Instagram has seen a 292 percent increase in wildlife selfies since 2014 around the world.

Of these, more than 40 percent involved humans "hugging or inappropriately interacting with a wild animal."

World Animal Protection said in a report released Tuesday that the animals are captured and often battered to make them perform. 

TRT World's Philip Owira reports.

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