Bonsai Kittens: A Very Cruel and Troubling Hoax!

Amid much controversy I have decided to write about this troubling "so called" hoax that I discovered a few years back while surfing the web. My husband and I were looking to purchase a kitten for our daughter's 12th Birthday. I was researching the different cat breeds and trying to decide where to get her the perfect kitten.

As I began searching and typed in the word "kittens", a site popped up about Bonsai Kittens so I decided to check it out, I wish I hadn't, but yet I was curious at the same time.

The site explained in detail how to take a small newly weaned kitten and place it into a mold such as a glass or plastic container of your choice of shape. It then proceeded to explain in detail how to install a breathing and feeding tube to keep the kitten alive for so many months inside the plastic container. What was even more troubling is that they explained how to seal the rectum on the animal so it would not soil inside of the container. They also told you how to create a hole on the side of the kitten near the intestines in order to create a "Kitty Colostomy bag". Of course it all came with a price, or you could send them money and they would do it all for you.

The site stated that after a few months, the kitten would emerge as a uniquely shaped feline, with limited ability to walk, function and play. The kitten would pretty much remain in a vegetative state inevitably. It did not state how long the animal would actually live, my guess is not very long. One example that really struck me ill was a kitty they had shaped in a sphere. When the cat would emerge it could do nothing but roll around and could not walk what so ever. This is the utmost of extreme cruelty and these people should be indited for even raising the thought of this. The other troubling part which makes it so difficult for me to believe that it was actually a hoax is that they showed real pictures of these deformed kittens and they were very disturbing.

The atrociousness of this kind of cruelty to animals is totally uncalled for. As I was researching more information to write this article, some three years after I initially heard about a Bonsai Kitten, I went ahead and googled Bonsai Kittens once again. The first hit was what appeared to be a legitimate site that sold these kittens in an extremely battered and abused state. Well maybe it is the same warped minded folks that created the site in the first place that went right back out and created a new site just as soon as the other one was shut down. A few hits down from that was Wikipedia and a few other sites stating that the original Bonsai Kitten site had been shut down and is currently being investigated by the FBI.

The problem with the whole concept of Bonsai Kitties is truly knowing if it is a hoax or not, as we all know you can't believe everything you read on the Internet. Why it really bothered me like it did was the fact of if it really is fake and just a hoax or not. Just having the information on the web still doesn't stop unsuspecting creeps from going out there and attempting to perform this troublesome procedure on a litter of innocent kittens as a sick twisted experiment. The consequences of attempting a bizarre experiment such as this can have devastating effects on the animal and also cause people who contribute to this kind of behavior to animals it to serve some serious jail time.

Animal Cruelty is a very serious crime and the ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention and Cruelty of Animals) takes all types of animal abuse very seriously. They have recently commented on their own website about the Bonsai Kitten Website; "The Bonsai Kitten Website has generated a lot of feedback from concerned individuals in the animal welfare community. The ASPCA shares your anger and concern about Bonsai Kitten. While the Internet has made a positive contribution to our society, it has also resulted in the rapid expansion of publicity for individuals who promote animal abuse. The ASPCA as well as other major humane organizations across the U.S. have attempted to discourage the promoters of this Web site from their activity. Our Humane Law Enforcement Department, as well as other law enforcement agencies, is aware of the Bonsai Kitten site and has determined that it is a hoax site operated by an MIT student in Massachusetts."

It seems as if there are people out there who will find any type of way to profit off of the cruelty or the sale of a sick animal, and aside of being penalized for abusing animals they also need to be punished for broadcasting instructions on how to hurt or treat animals inhumanely across the Internet.

I hope that the information you have just read will allow you to speak up when you see signs of animal abuse or cruelty or even someone promoting cruelty and treating animals in an unfair way for profit.

Together we can love our animals and take care of them with the respect and dignity that they deserve.