#TWO rants about animal welfare in a row?! get a load of this loser!

[qremlin]

Each year it seems another species is “trendy”/“viral”. Sometimes this leads to improvements in the animal’s natural environment, zoo/sanctuaries get more funding, society is educated about that animal. And sometimes, people follow that trend so hard they feel entitled to own that animal as a pet, or the animals are exploited or mistreated as a result of being viral.

Deer, owls, ‘mini/teacup’ pigs, frogs, axolotls, capybaras, quokkas; all of these animals have experienced a Viral Moment. Some of them came away better for it, and some of them were victims of under-educated people deciding to own them as pets, or increased harassment in their enclosures or natural environment.

Whatever happens this year, I hope whatever animal species that becomes trendy will see better conditions or conservation efforts and more people caring about what we are doing to their environment.