Safari Selfies.

• Author: Zissou, Rebecca
• Position: ENTERNATIONAL

Tourists are flocking to South America, Southeast Asia, and other places to snap selfies with exotic animals. The visitors are bringing income to local communities--but are they doing more harm than good?

When Justin Bieber posted a photo on Instagram of himself petting a tiger at a zoo in Canada, the response was more than 2 million likes. Similarly, Kim Kardashian created an online sensation when she tried to take a seifie of herself and a baby elephant on a trip to Thailand.

Wildlife selfies, as these kinds of photos are called, are soaring in popularity--and not just among celebrities. According to the animal rights group World Animal Protection, the number of such posts on Instagram has jumped more than 290 percent since 2014. The trend has helped make wildlife tourism a massive industry, generating hundreds of billions of dollars each year and bringing much-needed income to local communities.

But conservation groups say taking pictures with exotic animals can have disastrous effects on wildlife. Before being passed around for selfies with tourists, the animals are often snatched from the wild, kept in small crates or chained to trees, and repeatedly abused. Some of the animals die within six months, says Cassandra Koenen of World Animal Protection.

These selfies aren't just harmful to many of the animals, they're also dangerous for the people taking them. In May, a man in India who tried to take a seifie with a wounded bear on the side of the road was killed when the bear mauled him to death. And in September, a German woman was trampled to death by an elephant in Zimbabwe when she tried to take a photo.

$15 to Pose With a Sloth

World Animal Protection recently issued a report documenting the harmful effects of selfie-taking on animals in South America's Amazon rainforest.

In response to the report, Instagram agreed to crack down on wildlife selfies. Now, whenever people search for or click on a hashtag associated with a wildlife selfie, such as #dolphinkiss or #slothselfie, a pop-up alerts them to the possible cruelty behind the photos.

Koenen hopes the warnings discourage tourists from using animals as photo props. "If people knew what went on behind the scenes," she says, "they'd rethink posing for these pictures."

Why do people seem to love these selfies? Most people will never get the chance to see an elephant or a tiger in the wild. So they turn to activities that allow them to see animals up close.

In the Amazon, for example...