Category: Animals in Entertainment

Issues surrounding use of animal in entertainment

Otter lunacy in Japan’s animal cafés.

Can we expect to be drinking a latte with a hedgehog or otter at our local Starbucks or Costa anytime soon in the UK?

Animal cafés are opening across the world particularly in Asia at an increasing rate despite the obvious welfare and food hygiene issues and are proving a major draw to foreign tourists thanks to social media. Although a few restrict themselves to dogs or cats many cafe owners are constantly trying to outdo each other by introducing more and more different animals to become the quirkiest establishment.

It all began with offering customers the chance to have a latte in the company of rabbits, cats and dogs but has moved on to monkeys, chinchillas, alpacas, hedgehogs and even penquins, but now it is the turn of otters.

Cafés are heavily promoted by social media

The trend or craze is being fuelled as always by social media and judging by comments the draw of these establishments is that they are ‘cool’, the animals cute and the experience unique. This maybe a reflection on how the younger generations view animals and how out of touch they are with animal welfare issues.

The cafés are heavily promoted on travel sites, YouTube videos and the general media with little concern for the unnatural conditions faced by the animals and the stress of constant handling. They have become popular tourist attractions with foreign visitors who flock to cuddle them and take selfies to post. It has also resulted in a demand for pet otters with the inevitable rush to captive breed them and the knock on result of unwanted ones starting to appear in rescue centres in poor condition.

Foreign tourists are flocking to these animal cafés so can we expect our local Costa or Starbuck in the UK and USA to follow suit. I suspect if given the chance they would.

When will we understand that animals are not toys

It would appear from watching the videos that the foreign clientele are young adults or parents who see no harm in giving their children the impression that it is acceptable to use animals in such a way as though they are toys. We just cannot resist the desire to get up close and personal with animals and ignore the fact that most of them are stressed by the encounter.

Hedgehog cafés are the most popular.

Baby hedgehogs have been popular for a while now and you can even buy one on the spot once you have bonded with it over your coffee. You can even share a meal with a monkey or snake and have the monkey deliver it to your table dressed in a waiter’s outfit. It appears there is no end to this lunacy.

The otters used tend to be the small clawed species because, according to café owners they do not scratch so badly. Ironically the first wild otter to be seen in Japan for 38 years was spotted a few weeks before the first café opened and now the locals want to see what one looks like and own one.

Animal cafe with racoons
What happens to them when they become adults.

Given the chance would we have a latte with a hedgehog, otter or monkey at our local Costa or Starbucks?

We are now seeing cat and dog cafes opening in the UK. In fairness there is probably nothing wrong with a cat cafe as most cats enjoy pampering and interaction and there is often an added benefit that they are unwanted and looking for new homes. The problem is the use of unsuitable animals and on the spot selling to customers.

So, as these cafes are so popular with Western visitors in Japan can we expect our local Starbucks or Costa to cash in on this lucrative trend? Unfortunately, I believe that given the chance many would happily patronise such establishments, despite animal rights protests, because there is an increasing trend that it is now acceptable to exploit animals and a new generation that doesn’t appear to fully understand the concept of animal welfare.

Where and when will all this lunacy end.

Related Articles:

The lure of ‘get up close’ animal attractions
Tourists abroad risking life and limb.

Born Free ditches Martin Clunes – an opportunity missed.

Can we really trust this man to humanely look after his elephants?

Has the Born Free Foundation missed an opportunity?

The Born Free foundation has severed its ties with actor Martin Clunes following his ill advised decision to ride on an elephant and worse still to pull on its ear in the process. He has been denounced across social media and unfortunately has lost all his kudos as an ambassador for animals.

To be fair, Martin Clunes has shown beyond doubt in many of his programmes that he is a genuine animal lover, so should we judge him so savagely. It was a very bad error of judgement by him and he is probably mortified. He allegedly voiced his concerns to the production crew about hurting the elephant by pulling at its ear and climbing up on it.

TV producers and directors are the ones at fault.

The TV production company and its producers, advisers and director are mostly at fault for their crass decision to include such a shot in the show in the first place , but have escaped most, if not all, of the censure. Rather than use the situation to highlight the plight of these elephants they chose the audience pleaser route of pressurising Mr Clunes to make an exhibition of himself with little thought to the outrage it would cause. The whole incident highlights the media approach to and misunderstanding of animal welfare and rights issues, and reinforces their ethos that animals are purely there to be utilised for entertainment and as audience pullers particularly when you can have a gullible celebrity presenter paid to front it and perform as they are told.

Unfortunately, Mr Clunes has now added himself to the list of presenters who perpetuate this creed that is acceptable to misuse animals for entertainment purposes irrespective of their rights and dignity.

Getting up close and personal is too irresistible for some animal lovers.

elephant, cruelty to elephants, chained elephant, animalrightsandwrongs.uk
Is this any way to treat such a intelligent and dignified animal.

Being an animal lover is a double edged sword and many find it difficult to draw the line between being lovers and abusers.  Animal loving instincts can lead us all astray at some stage as for most people the whole point of “loving” is  to surround themselves with animals and take every opportunity to interact with them preferably at close quarters.

The lure of getting up close and personal can prove too irresistible and when presented with perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity of riding an elephant, swimming with a dolphin, or having a selfie with a bird of prey,  monkey or snake many find it difficult to ignore. We kid ourselves that just the odd encounter does not really matter, little realising that these animals are put through this manhandling and stress continually.  There is an extreme conflict of interest involved in these situations and unfortunately many cannot resist.

It could be argued that the Born Free Foundation has missed a trick with this heaven sent opportunity to use this highly publicised incident to their advantage by initiating an ad campaign with Martin Clunes to highlight that everyone is vulnerable and capable of making such a bad decision, but once they have made the error they might think twice in the future.

For more articles like this visit: animalrightsandwrongs.uk

More reading on the subject:

Tourists abroad risking life and limb.

The lure of close up animal attractions.