German Photographer Takes Stunning Pictures of Captive Animals That Display a Wild Soul

Every animal has a wild soul. These animals were designed by nature to run, roam and climb in the habitat where they were born. In an effort to bring these animals closer to the people who now control their habitats, zoos were created. Unfortunately, these zoos may do more harm than good. Yes, people will now be able to see many animals in person. Animals they would have otherwise never had the chance to encounter. But these animals are not the animals they would be in the wild. They are confined, unable to act and behave in the ways they would without human interference. People may see the captive animals, but they will very rarely understand these animals.

Manuela Kulpa is one of those people who is unable to travel to the natural habitats of animals. The German photographer, however, wanted to more than to experience animals, she wanted to understand them. Her only realistic option of doing this was to visit zoos across Europe where she photographed the animals living in these zoos, but took a very new approach.

Kulpa spent hours watching each one of her animal subjects. She wanted to get the chance to see a glimmer or peak of the behaviors she was missing from the wild. And she photographed just that. Kulpa was able to catch these glimpses into the wild dreams of captive animals.

“The series was created due to my respectful love for the animals and out of curiosity about their mysterious personalities,” said Kulpa.

 “The animal and its individuality are at the heart of my way of finding my pictures.”

“I want to place gracefulness and expressiveness of our fellow creatures in the foreground to show that animals are sentient beings.”

“On one hand zoos can make contributions to preserving biodiversity.”

“On the other hand we are often asking ourselves how the correct animal housing and handling of their care can be guaranteed by zoos.”

“With my pictures I want to show that sentient beings are hidden behind the beauty and expressiveness of the animals in the foreground.”

Manuela Kulpa’s photographs are stunning, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking at the same time, because they are a powerful reminder that there is hardly a shadow of resemblance between the lives of captive animals and their wild counterparts.

For another photographer’s perspective, check out these photos that illustrate the living nightmare (not the wild dreams) of animals in captivity.

All image source: Manuela Kulpa