Born Free issues response to President Trump’s AI parody video

Born Free has consistently expressed its deep concern about the rise in AI-generated images and content, which often presents a false perception of human-animal interactions and relationships.

Nothing could highlight this concern more clearly than today’s Truth Social post by President Trump showing AI generated footage of him wrestling with a tiger, just days after the tragic death of William Chapman at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

In response to the post, Will Travers OBE, Executive President and Co-Founder of The Born Free Foundation, stated: “President Trump’s social media post is not only incredibly insensitive at an already deeply distressing time, it recklessly flies in the face of common sense. In my view, it increases the risk to the lives of humans and captive wild animals. Such images and videos can encourage individuals to seek out direct, unrealistic, and high-risk contact with captive wild animals.

The United States took resolute action on these issues when President Biden signed into law The Big Cat Public Safety Act in December 2022. The legislation, prompted by the shocking revelations in the television series Tiger King, sought to reduce the risks for both human and wild animal welfare resulting from the captive exploitation of big cats by private individuals. President Trump’s actions may also result in individuals attempting to get dangerously up close and personal with animals in the wild, which can pose significant and potentially fatal health and safety risks.”

As AI-generated wildlife content becomes increasingly common online, Born Free urges the public to think critically about what they see and share. Wild animals are not props, and dangerous interactions should never be normalised or glamorised.