September 26, 2025

“game farms”

I took an impromptu weekend trip home to Seattle to see friends and we ended up spending a day at the Woodland Park Zoo! It was fun to photograph animals I would likely never otherwise see. Zoos are an amazing way to learn about wildlife and their habitats, and they often do incredible conservation work year-round.

The Audubon’s Guide to Ethical Bird Photography and Videography has a section about sharing photos of captive birds. Apparently photography at “game farms” is popular, but game farms are not zoos. Game farms are for-profit entities that are not required to conform to any standards or ethics of care. Photographers pay to see an exotic animal in captivity so they can grab an easy shot that will likely boost their social media channels and make them more money. But the animals suffer.

The National Wildlife Federation wrote an article about it in 2022, but it’s been going on for much longer (see the Audubon’s article from 2010).

The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, WA is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and as stated on the About of this blog, I strive to be a respectful and responsible steward of nature so I happily abide by ABA and Audubon Society best practices.