An Instagram influencer with more than half a million followers responded to criticism from her recent photo shoot, which shows her naked on top of an endangered Sumatra elephant in Bali.
Alesya Kafelnikova, 22, originally shared a video of the shoot on Instagram on February 13, according to The Sun. A few days later, she uploaded another photo of herself with the elephant, along with a caption: “loving nature is nature human. “
Alesya Kafelnikova apologized to everyone who considered her actions “vulgar”
(Newsflash)
But among the many fans who liked Kafelnikova’s photo, several critics questioned the fact that the influencer staged her shoot with an endangered animal that was probably transported to Bali for tourist purposes – including a defense group campaigning to save elephants. Asian.
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“Another tragic trivialization of the majestic Asian elephant when the species is fighting for its existence against brutal abuse in tourism and human ‘entertainment’,” Save the Asian Elephants (STAE) wrote in a statement shared with The Sun. Twitter, the group further condemned Kagelnikova’s rehearsal as a “raw acrobatics to exploit and humiliate Asian elephants for commercial gain. “
The Bali Tourism Agency also joined the conversation, telling The Sun that Kafelnikova’s video “certainly does not meet the standards we are promoting as part of Bali tourism”.
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A representative of the Bali Tourism Council was not immediately available to comment on the controversy for Fox News.
Kafelnikova, however, has since defended her photo in a later Instagram post, claiming that she does charity work and donates money to support the elephant and the people in the village where he lives. The influencer, also the daughter of Grand Slam-winning tennis champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, added that she never intended to offend and apologized.
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“It is a pity that people see this as vulgarity, and not as a beauty and love for nature,” she wrote. “I love animals, I love elephants! And I love Bali so much! I hope that each one of you awakens an aesthetic love for my post and beauty.
“It was a private photo shoot, I didn’t aim to hurt the feelings of the local people. We love Balinese culture and respect Indonesian rules. Sorry if you see anything more about it. My intention with these photos was to show you that I love and respect animals, especially elephants, more than anything. “