Stop Glorifying Animal Harassment on the Internet

Target: Internet Crime Complaint Center,

An “influencer” is teasing/harassing a cat, who she had since it was a kitten and making a “career” out of taunting the cat. She claims the cat is grumpy and “hates” her, but she “loves” the cat.
She taunts the cat to the point where the cat hisses at her, and then she videotapes it.
This video is a “hit” on The Dodo. And it’s shared on YouTube, Facebook, TicTok, and Instagram.

While thousands of viewers gave the “thumbs up” on all platforms, animal lovers have expressed concern that this is cat abuse. There is nothing funny about getting a cat all riled up to the point that the cat hisses and hides. This cat is traumatized, which is obvious by the cat’s body language, with ears pointed back and tail down.

What makes matters worse is The Dodo is promoting it.

You can see all the abuse on these pages:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dodo/status/1556340143493001216?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?comment_id=692599629192038&v=626551431991589&notif_id=1673625842523860&notif_t=comment_mention&ref=notif

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nanoosontheloose?fbclid=IwAR0C-iVHpEP1iVODQzgODrDtt7wkAoYsYGAzcd2uts0tLU0wvSQ0kh664XM’

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reemmdmn/?fbclid=IwAR3VsYjdnlOFGWTR_JVphfrMHjJAvuFuBtl3E7gup7aZJPLzp4_UmzL–yU

The comments which say the cat has “attitude problems” are false. Animals do not have “attitude problems.” Animals only have two emotions–love and fear. This cat is obviously traumatized and in “startle reflex.” The owner should be fined, and this video (and all like it) should be taken off all social media platforms.

When you see videos such as this, it explains why some animals have long-term psychological trauma and end up in shelters and unadoptable. Plus, pranks such as this could possibly cause the pet to scratch the owner and her child. Then the cat would be put down by officials.

While it’s important not to “like” or share this particular video and others like it, it’s more important to get these types of videos off the internet–period.

Please sign for change.