I’m delving into an impossibly tricky area of amateur philosophy: do animal advocates have to hate kitten exploitation videos? There are so many ‘funny cat videos’ featuring oh so cute kittens on social media that they’ve become a way of modern life. PETA would call them animal abuse. No doubt about it. And I …
NEWS AND VIEWS – Xianyang, Shaanxi, China: The tweet says: “Ring toss game – the prize is a live cat. A stall set up with kittens in cages. The temperature was very high, and the kittens were kept in cages without water to drink. Some even fainted. Animals aren’t toys”. Sigh. I’ve seen so …
NEWS AND VIEWS: In a crass example of animal cruelty in Thailand, Lady Freethinker has exposed the objectionable practice of stuffing cigarette lighter flames under the noses of tigers to force them to lift up their heads for pictures with tourists. It’s unimaginable and not only is it a violation of animal welfare laws …
The tweet says it nicely: “Making fun of animals in captivity is not entertainment”. The lioness is impressive in holding her own against three burly men in a tug-of-war but this is not the decent thing to do. You can see that this happens all the time, perhaps daily as the machinery is in …
The modern age of YouTube and instant fame has heralded the introduction of another way to exploit cats and dogs. This article is mainly about dogs. In my opinion cats tend to be exploited on the basis of their appearance. Cats with an unusual appearance become celebrities and it doesn’t matter if the odd …
Two well known celebrity cats, Bob the Cat in the UK and Grumpy Cat in the USA, provide us with two good examples of how money can be made through the domestic cat or in using the domestic cat. It can be quite difficult to decide what cat/animal exploitation is. Many disagree with me …
The title is a quote by Ben Huh, founder and CEO of the cat media company Cheezburger. He says: “I think what we see here is the rise of the Internet cat industrial complex,” he says. “I go to a meeting or a conference, and all of a sudden people are, you know, I’ve got …
When does celebrating the cat become cat exploitation? It is a difficult subject and believe me I like fun and larking around. The answer is in (a) the purpose behind the person’s creation – is the real purpose financial gain or personal recognition for the person? And (b) what the cat does – is …
