Your wildlife selfies are killing the wildlife

SOCIAL MEDIA — Wildlife selfies have become all the rave over social media, only problem is they encourage animal cruelty. <br /> <br />As more people look for pointless reasons to share pictures of themselves, local wildlife around the world are paying the price, according to Wild Animal Protection. <br /> <br />The charity found a 292% increase in the amount of wildlife selfies posted on Instagram since 2014. <br /> <br />The demand for wildlife selfies has led to an increase in local animals being snatched from the wild and forced into becoming props. <br /> <br />Investigators found animals being abused in the Amazon cities of Manaus, Brazil and Puerto Alegria, Peru. <br /> <br />The team discovered green anacondas wounded and dehydrated, kept in small wooden crates, when not being strangled by the throat for selfies. <br /> <br />Sloths snatched from the wild, so they can be held by tourists. The handling from all the tourists naturally causes the sloths to freak out. And when they're not needed for photos, they're roped to trees. <br /> <br />Caiman crocodiles are jammed in broken refrigerators with their mouths closed shut with rubber bands. <br /> <br />Rule of thumb, next time you think about taking a selfie, don't. No one cares. That is, unless you slip and fall while taking it and happen to pass away in the process. In that case, send it over to us and we'll Tomo it.