The rise of pet coffee shops is causing "humanitarian" controversy.

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Pet coffee shops are now springing up all over the world, and people want to reduce stress by getting along with "cute things". Behind the cute animals acting cute at the guests' midday meal is a perhaps inexplicable "humane" dispute.

Owl coffee shops in Japan are doing brisk business. The "cute thing" in the coffee shop is an eye-opener.

American "Cat Cafe" was closed due to health problems.

Compared with Asian countries, pet coffee shops in the United States come later. In 2014, New York officially opened the first "cat coffee" in the United States, and its existence once caused confusion among Westerners.

"this shop is very strange." Oscar Suris, a tourist from Sydney to New York, told the Los Angeles Times, "this is not my cat, and I am allergic to cats." He doesn't understand how people come into stores to spend money on "petting cats".

In pet coffee shops, the East and the West reflect cultural differences derived from different social conditions. The population density of Seoul is twice that of New York, and many people live in residential areas where pets are prohibited. In addition, Koreans who advocate the culture of overtime work long hours and have little time to take care of animals. The stress of city life and 60-hour work week make people physically and mentally exhausted. They just want to eat ice cream and touch animals to reduce stress.

Suarez's friend Tany Nicholson sympathizes with this. "if the place where I live is not allowed to have cats, I will come here, too. It's great to have a cat on your lap, whether it's reading or resting. " He said.

However, more people do not buy pet coffee shops because of health concerns. A cat coffee shop in the country was suspended in 2015 after inspectors found nine serious violations, including finding garbage bags containing cat litter in the basement of the coffee shop, cat hair on the floor of the dining area and pastry residue in the cat's living area, the Washington Post reported. According to the report, the United States clearly requires that the animal activity area in pet coffee shops be separated from the dining area.

China does not have such a rigid rule. One customer complained online that the "cat coffee" he went to experience was small, but there were so many cats that "a strong animal smell was coming" as soon as he entered the door. After eating, he is almost surrounded by cats to eat, a little careless may "share" food with cats. "I was scared and at a loss to see the cat hanging around me all the time, jumping up and down, and staring covetously at my food." The customer said.

The Meerkat Cafe in Seoul, South Korea is a little different from other pet cafes. There is no designated animal area, fragrant cats with long tails walk freely, kangaroos jump back and forth between chairs, and an arctic fox turns mischievously under the window behind the guests until it provokes a fight with the kangaroos.

Struggle. At the same time, all kinds of

Cats are feeding their "financier" table.

Wander up and down.

Since its debut in Taiwan 20 years ago, pet coffee shops have started a prairie fire in Asia.

Extended, and then spread all over the continent

Blossom. Today, the "cat coffee" has been

It's nothing new.

Things. At the forefront of the pet coffee shop

Chau, this kind of shop

You're the only one who didn't expect it.

There are small animals you can't see.

In Shibuya District, Tokyo, Japan, the rabbit coffee shop "Ms Bunny" keeps more than a dozen rabbits and several hedgehogs. Most rabbits stay in cages, but they do not squat quietly during the "lookout", but are very lively. Most of the guests who come here are in a good mood, hoping that the furry rabbit can calm their hearts. Of course, like most pet coffee shops, living with animals is not free. On weekends, guests who pay 850 yen (51 yuan) can play with two rabbits in 30 minutes; if they want more rabbit company, there is an additional charge of 300 yen (18 yuan) each; people who are very willing to spend money can even take the store's star rabbit "Karumen" for a walk in Rachigi. If you feel particularly congenial with a rabbit, you don't have to be sad about parting. Most rabbits can be sold.

In addition to the "soft cute" rabbit and cat coffee shops, the British "Time Out" magazine also introduced several coffee shops with the theme of hedgehogs, raptors and penguins. Tokyo Harajuku opened a snake-themed store, where snakes are "well-trained, non-toxic and harmless", customers only have to pay

For 1000 yen (60 yuan), you can get a drink and a snake to play with.

Under the trend of booming pet coffee shops, Thailand is not willing to lag behind. A reporter from the Daily Telegraph opened his eyes at the "Little Zoo Cafe" on the outskirts of Bangkok, where there are raccoons and prairie dogs from North America, marmosets and chinchillas from South Africa, hairless guinea pigs, parrots, snow owls, and foxes alone, including North African big-eared foxes, Russian silver foxes and European red foxes.

Chinese businessmen have not missed this business opportunity either. In the coastal city of Dalian, a restaurant with beluga whales allows guests to look at beluga whales through water tank glass. It is said that the founder of the store met a group of "lonely beluga whales" because of fate, and they "excitedly leaned over to say hello" every time they saw him. He wanted to keep beluga whales and lonely people company, so he opened the store. Cartography / Hu Ding

Are they happy in the store?

"some coffee shops are so bad that they don't take care of animals at all and don't give them a good bath or feed. All they see is money. " "I love these animals and sometimes I take them home with me," said Natalie, who runs a pet coffee shop in South Korea. "

Most pet coffee shop owners claim to be caring, but it turns out that some stores tend to show rare species rather than allow more animals to be taken care of. Catherine Pollack, welfare director of an animal rights protection foundation in the United States, told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that she had contacted a "cat coffee" on behalf of the foundation, "but they don't want to adopt our domestic cat."

The controversy over pet coffee shops does not stop there. For example, the animals in Bangkok's "Little Zoo Cafe" are seen by most people as cute and exotic. Operator Wachiraporn insists that there are no endangered species in the store and that he has a legitimate business license, but not everyone likes to see wild animals as pets.

Many people care about whether the animals in the coffee shop are happy or not. In the Little Zoo Cafe, once guests have ordered milkshakes, lattes, French fries and ice cream, they begin to hug and caress small animals. In this case, the little raccoon looks like a fish in water, but the big-eared fox hides in the corner and doesn't look very happy.

When a reporter from the Daily Telegraph entered the coffee shop, a six-month-old mongoose got into a female customer's backpack and turned out the paper towels inside. Georgina, a real estate agent from Singapore, exclaimed: "when I entered this coffee shop, I was shocked." When I pick up a hedgehog, I feel like holding a baby. I think they like to interact with people, and there is no fear or maladjustment. "

But the danger is hidden. Wachiraporn admitted that a shop assistant had been scratched his arm by an animal. There are beluga whales in a restaurant in Dalian. As a selling point, sheep are raised in Thanksgiving Nature Coffee Shop in South Korea.

"it's kind of cruel that they have to cheer up during the day."

During the holiday, Shirley, a 20-year-old Singaporean college student, flew to Bangkok with her mother, and they specially set the local "True Love Coffee Shop" as a tourist stop. "if I miss these lovely dogs, I will be sorry." Shirley said

Stroked the dog's hair while saying this, and then took it.

I took a few selfies on my cell phone.

Film, and chased the dog to record it.

Got a little video.

There are more than 20 huskies in True Love Coffee Shop. In such restaurants that sell animals, the taste of food and beverage is secondary. "We don't sell food, we sell happiness." The shopkeeper Paw said.

The Daily Telegraph complains that if happiness means a group of tourists throw a piece of cake to "long-suffering dogs" and then take a beautiful picture, then you can get a lot of love in the "true love coffee shop". The newspaper pointed out that as hunting dogs, huskies, who were born in the Siberian wilderness, were supposed to run freely in the ice and snow, but now they are taken to the tropics for business. Huskies from True Love Cafe spend most of their time in air-conditioned rooms, but they must enter a small courtyard in batches for paying guests to touch them.

"these animals are not suitable for hot and humid climates." Paw admits. But he continues to feed them, either because the huskies are purebred and beautiful, or because they can sell for 450000 baht (89000 yuan) alone.

A Japanese owl coffee shop has attracted similar controversy. According to the Mirror, the store has an ingenious supply of eight different kinds of owls, so business is booming. To prevent the owls from flying away, they were shackled in the shop.

Customers can touch the owl's head from time to time, but the person being stroked sometimes looks very tired. "owls are animals that lie dormant during the day and come out at night, but the owls in this store seem to have been trained. They have to cheer up during the day, which is a bit cruel." According to the Mirror, some customers expressed concern.

According to the website VICE, a North American youth culture platform, it is hardly humane to place wild animals in an unnatural environment to be touched by groups of strangers every day, but if not, they may face another situation: being left alone in a narrow apartment, abandoned on the street, or skinned and slaughtered by a fur dealer.

In the hot streets of Bangkok, stray dogs protrude their tongues lazily and no one pays attention to them. Thais and foreign tourists take taxis to coffee shops to tease the sleek pet.