Zeenat Aman raises awareness on wildlife exploitation through thought-provoking post; says, “Instagram plays an enormous role in promoting the illegal trade of wildlife”

Zeenat Aman talks about wildlife exploitation in her recent post.

Veteran Bollywood actress Zeenat Aman has been very creative with her Instagram account since her debut on the social media platform in February. From cherished memories from film sets to captivating anecdotes from her travel diaries, and even delightful descriptions of her favourite cuisines, she takes her followers on a vibrant journey through her posts. In her recent Instagram update, Zeenat Aman took to her social media to highlight the grave issue of wildlife exploitation, using her own experiences to shed light on the detrimental impact of the illegal trade on animals.

Zeenat Aman raises awareness on wildlife exploitation through thought-provoking post; says, “Instagram plays an enormous role in promoting the illegal trade of wildlife”

Sharing a picture of herself in a garden, Zeenat captioned, “In the healing company of Nature, earlier this year at the spectacular Kew Gardens in London. Don’t miss my rose tinted glasses and floral print outfit!”

She added, “This picture is the pivot for me to share what I have recently learnt about social media and nature exploitation. I love cute animal videos and so I’ve been quite shattered to discover that social media apps such as Instagram play an enormous role in promoting the illegal trade of wildlife.”

She added, “It is a fact that dozens of species of wild animals are poached from their habitats, smuggled across borders, and funnelled into the exotic pet trade. These helpless animals are then subjected to further cruelty, negligence and emotional distress. They become mere props for videos and pictures that garner millions of likes, including from animal lovers who are simply ignorant of the truth. I certainly was one of the latter.”

Talking about content, Zeenat wrote, “Given these horrible circumstances, I want to request you to be careful not to promote any online content that features captive wildlife as pets or exhibits. Such content can look adorable - an influencer petting a tiger, an orangutan riding a bicycle, a child tickling a slow loris, an African grey parrot spouting abuses - but in actuality this content promotes a booming, illegal trade. The third largest in the world, after weapons and drugs I hear! So you see, I deeply believe in the sentience of other species, but sometimes I have to question our own!”

“We are lucky that in India we have some excellent organisations such as @sanctuaryasia and @wctindia , which highlight these issues with campaigns such as #tigertempletakedown and #trappedintrade. Please educate yourself via their pages,” said Aman.

“That’s my lunchtime lecture for the week! I hope you will take my “Kew”. Pun intended,” she concluded.

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Zeenat Aman is an Indian actress and a former model. The Evil Within (1970), starring Dev Anand, marked the former beauty queen's acting debut. She has acted in films like Yaadon Ki Baarat, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Qurbani, Dharam Veer, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Insaaf Ka Tarazu among others. The actress will soon return to the silver screen with Faraz Arif Ansari’s next, Bun Tikki. As per reports, the plan is to take the movie on floors by November of this year in Himachal Pradesh. The director plans to talk about parenting and gender identity throughout the movie. Abhay Deol will play the role of a father in the film.

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