Twitter? I Hardly Know Her!

I think my time with Twitter this week was a little more exciting, seeing the influx of interactions with classmates and even the surprising and amazing news that Dr. Barbara King had welcomed and gave a shout out to the #39canimals students! After being isolated from people for so long, seeing a collective effort to learn and advocate pay off and be noticed despite the distance among each other was really rewarding to see! In addition to that news, I was fascinated to see other classmates' thoughts on how animals are exploited and monetized in exotic experiences or for traditions. I saw some students regretting swimming with dolphins in notorious parks like SeaWorld, advocate against the infamous bull fighting tradition popular in countries like Spain, Mexico, or Peru, and point out the two-faced past time of trophy hunting. While participating in some of these discussions, I've noticed definitely are all linked with using animals as a form of entertainment. I like to think that the cruelty stems from not only just human boredom but even power. If a human being shoots and kills a person, it's called a homicide. If a human being shoots and kills an animal, it's called a sport. I think the best tweet I made for this week was my brief tweet about the rise of animal cafes in Japan and how their popularity starts to shed light on whether or not these establishments are well suited for the animals they host for customers to hold, touch, feed, and more. I'm always curious as to how animal ethics are handled over in Asian countries.

Things like the dog meat trade market in Korea and China's most dangerous delicacy shark fin soup come to mind for me when it comes to those two countries, but Japan has always been under my radar when it comes to animal issues. It wasn't until I recently watched a favorite YouTuber of mine named CDawgVA visit a pig cafe in Japan and actually personally interview the owner as to get an inside look of how the animals are cared for that I wanted to see if there were more discussions taking place about these unsuspicious cafes. If Starbucks and petting zoos had a child, these animal cafes are born. Coffee, snacks, and adorable animals sound like a kawaii (Japanese for cute) caffeinated paradise, but be sure to read up on each establishment before going for a drink. Oddly enough, all three people's blogs I read were from people who currently don't actually own any animals themselves. Owning three dogs myself, I was curious as to how people's perspective changed from this absence or the interaction with others' animals. Asia Jackson recounted how she later recognized and identified signs of grief among her pets guinea pigs after one cage-mate had passed. I nearly forgot that rodents should be considered among our studies! Shelly Li explained her experiences with friends' pets and shared the different interactions she'd have with someone's pet cat and someone's pet dog. I commented how I find it humorous that cats seem to be the one animal that have successfully "domesticated" humans in their own fashion. Then finally Anthony Vo's blog gave the spotlight to Dr. King's definition of friendship when observing animals. Giving the word friendship some thought, I'm definitely a person that doesn't throw the term too lightly and appreciated King's commentary on how she elaborated its meaning. I want to believe that animals can and do teach us how to be more human.