ANIMAL SELFIES? IT’S A MONKEY BUSINESS
WHEN a monkey grabbed David Slater’s camera in the Indonesian jungle he decided to turn the mischief to his advantage. With plenty of patience, the lure of biscuits and some gentle tutoring he showed the macaque and its playmates how to press the shutter button.
Later he wasn’t surprised to discover that most of the images were unusable. However he was amazed to come across one perfectly framed self-portrait. Even more remarkably the macaque seemed to be smiling as if posing for the family album.
The enchanting “monkey selfie” has gone on to become one of the most viewed and popular wildlife photographs in history. It has been published more than 40 million times but for David, from Monmouthshire, South Wales, the snap has up until now proved to be nothing but trouble.
Far from cementing his professional name and making him wealthy it triggered a bizarre legal battle. An animal rights organisation claimed that the monkey that had pressed the camera button owned the copyright of the picture.
Now after two years of wrangling the case has finally been settled. A judge has thrown out the claim and a deal has been struck which will see David donate a quarter of all revenue from the classic photo to wildlife and conservation charities.
It is a huge relief for the Briton, who claimed the cost of fighting the “absurd” case in the US courts has ruined him.
It all began in 2011 when keen photographer and conservationist David, 52, visited the jungle in Sulawesi, Indonesia. He has been passionate about animals since childhood and chose wildlife photography as a way of turning his obsession into a career. His quarry on the trip was endangered species and in particular rare crested black macaques. To find them he trudged for days in heat of almost 113F (45C), 50 miles from the equator.
With the help of a guide he found a troop of about 20 monkeys playing together. Over the next 24 hours he gained their confidence and was able to get up close. A few Jaffa cakes helped to seal the deal.
THE macaques became fascinated by his camera, which made a whirring noise when he pressed the shutter. For fun David allowed some of the bolder monkeys to handle the camera to see if they’d take some shots. He achieved this by encouraging them to look at their reflection in the lens, which seemed to amuse them. To his delight they mimicked him, pressing the button while the camera was on self-portrait setting.
When David returned to his home in Chepstow he began selling his work from the jungle and it soon became apparent that the monkey selfie was the money shot.
Not only was the image a pinsharp close up but the picture had added resonance because it had been taken by the macaque. “It was a surreal moment,” David says of the instant he realised that with his assistance a monkey had taken a brilliant selfie. “I was enthralled by the macaques with their charismatic looks. You take thousands of images hoping one or two will be good enough to pay the bills.”
He was delighted with the photograph, which he published on his website and as part of a collection in his book called Wildlife Personalities. It included images he has taken around the world while he also hoped the monkey selfie would help raise awareness about the plight of the species.
To David’s dismay the photo began appearing online without his permission and he began trying to protect his livelihood by asking websites to remove the image. When they refused he sued for breach of copyright. Such cases are usually straightforward and attract little attention but then in 2015 the organisation People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) became involved.
Turning the case on its head PETA argued that the monkey, by now known as Naruto, was entitled to the copyright because it pressed the camera button.
It was a staggering development and David, who at first thought it was all a bad joke, has said in the past: “There’s a lot more to copyright than who presses the trigger. I selected the lens, I set the background, I decided where the sun should be.
“The creativity was all mine and it required a lot of perseverance, sweat and anguish. Of course the copyright is mine.
“Every photographer dreams of a shot like this. If everybody gave me a pound for every time it was used I’d probably have £40million in my pocket. The proceeds from this photograph should have made me comfortable by now but I’m not.”
In the case of Slater versus Naruto the animal rights organisation argued the monkey should be declared the owner of its own image.
As the macaque was unable to represent itself in court PETA brought the action on nine-yearold Naruto’s behalf, also insisting that the case had broader animal rights issues. A primate expert was brought in to serve as the monkey’s “next friend” – a status normally only given in legal cases involving children and people with developmental disabilities.
AND AS if all this was not crazy enough there was also confusion over the identity of the exact monkey which took the photograph. David insisted that his monkey was female whereas PETA claimed it was male. It is a plotline that even the authors of TV courtroom dramas would surely have considered too far-fetched.
A court in San Francisco ruled in David’s favour but PETA, which intended to use the proceeds of the monkey selfie to protect Naruto’s species, prolonged his agony by appealing. It resulted in a storm of criticism being directed at the organisation.
Now the original decision has been upheld and although it is not clear who will pay his estimated legal costs of £200,000, David’s future should be safeguarded. He gets to keep 75 per cent of revenue from sales of the monkey selfie.
Both sides said in a joint statement: “PETA and David Slater agree that this case raises important cutting-edge issues about expanding legal rights for nonhuman animals, a goal that they both support and they will continue their respective work to achieve this.”
It all sounds amicable but that doesn’t mask the bitterness caused. “I was being sued by a monkey,” David once remarked ruefully. “I can’t get used to that.”
Faced with bills and unable to afford running a car he became so hard-up and disenchanted that he said he was considering putting down his cameras for good.
“I am just not motivated to go out and take photographs any more,” he said this year as the case dragged on. “Most of all it’s the sense of failure. I can’t provide for my family.”
Married with a seven-year-old daughter, David has toyed with various career changes including dog-walking and retraining as a tennis coach. It is still not clear whether he will ever return to serious photography now the dispute has concluded in his favour.
Yet despite the nightmare he has endured David has absolutely no regrets about his encounter with the monkeys – which resulted in that once-in-a-lifetime snap.