I believe that cutesy puppy and kitten (and other fuzzball) picture sites are contributing to animal cruelty. Sounds like an offensive and far-fetched claim, huh? I love to look at kitty, puppy, rabbit and hamster pictures just like everyone else, but I think that some viewers are not aware of the conditions which make and keep such sites so successful.

We can’t assume (and it simply isn’t true) that all the babies shown on these sites are the results of a do-gooder who adopted them from a shelter. I feel confident that, in fact, a large number of the babies we see on these sites are from breeders (”mills”), pet stores or other disreputable places. A smaller percentage comes from the irresponsible and/or ignorant who don’t spay and neuter their pets and allow them to continually breed, sometimes simply for the entertainment and “magazine/web popularity” of the owner.

Likely the smallest number of images seen on these sites (~2% or less?) are true rescues and shelter pets. There are several reasons a person might pass on adopting an older animal from a shelter and one of them is the “cute factor,” which is helpful on sites like these.

Unseen, behind the front pages of the sites, there are rude and infantile arguments about whether or not people should confront mill activity when they suspect it. Some say “we shouldn’t care where the pet came from, as long as the owner takes care of it” and “we shouldn’t ruin people’s day by talking about animal cruelty”. The site users have knowledge of pets with suspicious origins ending up shown on these sites, but many are unwilling to say anything.

People in the “cute animal business” know what pulls at our heartstrings and makes us desperately want to take home one of their products. They know that a child who sees bunnies all around Easter will beg his parents to get one, so rabbit breeders time their schedules to exploit this. Unlike a child with a short-lived and unconsidered desire for a bunny, adults should know better. But they don’t. The endless cute faces overwhelm their rational mind! People who are unfit to parent continue to have children and people unfit to care for pets continue to get pets!

The animal rights and cruelty debate (like most every other topic in the world) is vicious and heated. You have idiots on both sides: the “I want the pet of my choice no matter what horrors I am supporting!” and the “You should be killed for buying a pet from a breeder!” types. Good fun.

Unfortunately for humans, rational and considered thought is rare. As is obvious from the state of humans on Earth, the idiots get their way much too often.