“This Image Haunts Me to This Day”: Exploring the Psychological Impacts of Wildlife Loss on Conservation Professionals Through Photovoice

Abstract

This study builds on the concept of “psychoterratic” conditions, an array of mental health experiences related to global environmental change. Among these conditions are those referring to emotional distress caused by changing of familiar landscapes due to anthropogenic factors. This study asks, if humans can experience psychological distress due to changing familiar landscapes, can they also experience distress from the loss of cherished other-than-human neighbors? Little research has looked at the biodiversity crisis nor wildlife declines and psychological impacts on wildlife professionals. This study used photovoice methodology as a reflective process to communicate a message using retrospective photography. Participants (n = 6) shared their stories by selecting and describing career photographs that answered research questions about negative emotional responses from their work and their personal contributions to conservation. Participants then shared their photographs in a focus group. Major themes identified are areas of risk and areas of resilience. Conservation professionals were profoundly affected by grief from the losses of individual animals, as well as by the extinction of species, which were caused by anthropogenic harms. Findings also showed that conservation professionals were ill prepared to cope with the emotional toll of their work and were forced to build resilience in the face of the unprecedented extinction crisis.