The ethics lie in the intent. If the intent is to deceive the viewer into thinking the animal is in a situation it never was, that is manipulation. But if the intent is to express an emotion or a visual concept, that is art.
The response from the artist is usually this: artofzoo ariel pure pleasure
Early wildlife photographs were utilitarian—intended for species identification. By contrast, contemporary practitioners employ fine-art strategies: The ethics lie in the intent
There is a moment, just before sunrise in the middle of a misty field, when the world holds its breath. You aren’t just holding a camera; you are holding a paintbrush. But instead of oil on canvas, you are working with light, shadow, and the unpredictable soul of a wild animal. The response from the artist is usually this:
In traditional photography, the subject is king. The background is merely the "setting."
The hardest thing for any artist to do is nothing. In photography, this means negative space.