Pet cafes are cute but the animals might have a different story to tell

Are we compromising animal welfare and hampering the survival of threatened species, just for a social media photo?

- Karen Tee

Singaporeans who lap up pet and dog cafes are now enjoying a jaunt across the Causeway to Johor Bahru (JB) for something more exotic – places where you can chill with unusual animals including alpacas, meerkats and guinea pig-like capybaras.

Judging by the growing number of pet cafes in JB – a quick online check threw up at least nine results – there is an increasing demand for close encounters with adorable animals.

Since the first cat cafe opened in Taiwan in 1998, pet cafes have mushroomed across Asia, including China, Japan and South Korea. Encounters with unconventional species are popular, too. There are animal cafes just across the border, for example, that offer interactions with fennec foxes, raccoons and, apparently, even a skunk, presumably in an attempt to capitalise on the novelty factor of getting up close and personal with wild animals.

But as their popularity grows, so, too, do the ethical concerns surrounding their operations.

Singapore's Government bans the keeping of most wild animals as pets, including hedgehogs, iguanas and tortoises. The strict control of the sale and licensing of such animals as pets is to protect our small, densely packed country's population, other animals and ecosystems from health and safety threats.

However, other countries in the region are not so strict about keeping exotic animals, even endangered ones.

This raises issues about how interacting with resident animals in cafes can lead to concerns about conservation, welfare, hygiene and the transmission of disease, among others.

EXOTIC ANIMAL CAFES RAISE ETHICAL CONCERNS

Even with domestic cats and dogs in Singapore, there have been reports of animals in some cafes being over-handled, denied adequate rest or kept in spaces that fail to meet their needs.