Infographic will change your mind about ancient Egyptians loving cats

Below the infographic I briefly touch on the ancient Egyptian paradox of both admiring and respecting the cat while abusing the animal. And other animals all in the name of worshipping the Gods and asking for favours. They were a very superstitious race. Many people still are. 😢😉

Mummified Egyptian kittens used as offerings to the Gods in ancient Egypt by Michael Broad

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The ancient Egyptians had a deep admiration for cats, considering them sacred animals. Cats were valued for their ability to protect homes and granaries by hunting mice, rats, and snakes, which helped safeguard food supplies. Over time, cats became associated with divine protection and were linked to the goddess Bastet, who was the goddess of home, fertility, and protection, often depicted as a lioness or a woman with a cat's head.

The reverence for cats was so strong that they were often mummified and buried with their owners, and killing a cat—even accidentally—was punishable by death. Cats also featured in Egyptian art and religious rituals, showing how highly they were regarded. 

This admiration contributed to the spread of domestic cats throughout the world, as they became popular trade goods and companions for many cultures.

Paradoxically, while the Egyptians deeply revered cats, they also bred them specifically for sacrificial purposes. This practice emerged alongside the religious veneration of Bastet, the feline goddess of home, fertility, and protection. Worshippers would offer mummified cats as votive offerings at her temples, hoping to gain the favour of the goddess.

Archaeological evidence suggests that during certain periods, particularly from around 600 BCE onwards, there were large-scale breeding facilities dedicated to raising cats for this very purpose. Once these cats were killed (often humanely, though not always), they were mummified and offered in temples as a means of devotion. Millions of cat mummies have been found in Egypt, particularly in Bubastis, the center of Bastet worship, and other major temple sites.

While the act of breeding cats for sacrifice might seem contradictory to their revered status, it fits within the broader context of Egyptian religious practices, where offerings to gods—whether food, animals, or objects—were a fundamental way to show devotion. The cat's sacred status didn't prevent this practice, but rather made them more suitable for offerings to please Bastet and other deities. This juxtaposition illustrates the Egyptians' unique blend of spiritual reverence and ritual practices.

It was not just cats that were abused. Eight million jackals where offered to the Gods as mummies and buried in cemeteries in Egypt. It was mass slaughter.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

JD Vance pours gasoline on the Haitian cat eating story and gets badly burned

Surprisingly, and in another poor decision by the Trump/Vance partnership, JD Vance has continued to pour gasoline on the discredited migrant cat eating story by posting on his Twitter/X feed (with 1.9 million followers) a video of poultry being cooked on an outdoor grill while claiming that domestic cats were being cooked in preparation for an outdoor meal in Ohio!

JD Vance. Image: Wikipedia.

The video accompanied the following words: "Kamala Harris and her media apparatchiks should be ashamed of themselves. Another debunked story that turned out to have merit."

Kamala Harris and her media apparatchiks should be ashamed of themselves.

Another "debunked" story that turned out to have merit. https://t.co/dOyh9oTXhb

— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 14, 2024

You may remember that JD Vance had claimed falsely that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio were stealing domestic cats and eating them. There are many Haitian immigrants (I believe that they are legal immigrants) in Springfield, Ohio a town of 58,000 citizens. And I believe that the indigenous citizens have become annoyed by this 20,000 influx and have created this false scenario on social media which went viral.

Trump and Vance grabbed hold of it is a useful story to emphasise their desire to stop illegal immigration and that they are the duo best suited for this task. But they dug a big hole for themselves. And in this instance JD Vance has apparently got burnt by throwing gasoline on an already simmering fire.

The Independent newspaper tells us that this video was originally posted by the right-wing Manhattan Institute's Christopher Rufo, who apparently offered a $5,000 bounty to anyone that could provide proof of cat eating migrants in Ohio.

The newspaper is able to tell us that the footage was filmed last year in Dayton according to Rufo who has spoken to the person who made the video. The person who shot the video said that "some Africans that stay right next door to my kid's mother". And Rufo insists that the claims were verified i.e. that cats were being eaten, by "multiple witnesses and visual cross-references." 

His article states that the video shows "a pair of flayed cats on a blue barbecue in Dayton Ohio".

Note: Haiti is not in Africa! It is in the Caribbean.

The reaction was rapid on social media. The general tenor of the criticisms is that chickens were being cooked and they were surprised that Rufo and JD Vance was unable to tell the difference between chickens and cats who reposted the video.

Here's an example: " “I find it strange that a self-professed ‘hillbilly’ doesn’t know what whole chickens look like."

And another example in capital letters to emphasise the point!: “HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT CHICKENS LOOK LIKE WITH THEIR LEGS ATTACHED YOU F****ING DIPSHIT.”

The Independent reached out to Rufo for a comment but he did not respond. Also, the JD Vance campaign declined to comment. And an expert at the National Chicken Council did not reply to requests to comment.

However, somebody close to JD Vance told the newspaper that they did not believe the carcasses to be grilled were chickens. The Independent newspaper journalist writes that "a visual comparison of skinned cats prepared for laboratory use and whole plucked chickens suggested the animals in the video are almost certainly not feline."

The story is both bizarre and sickening actually. We have to discuss, in this story, skinned cats being grilled in a backyard in Ohio. It makes me want to puke.

This is another escalation in this ridiculous story and it very strongly appears that JD Vance is digging a bigger hole for himself and the Tramp campaign. He's thrown gasoline on the embers of a fire that was fizzling out nicely and now it is back in flames in the headlines.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Another cat-abusing trend on TikTok which veterinarians have criticised

It seems that TikTok is famous for animal abuse and in this instance a mild or perhaps in some cases quite severe example of domestic cat abuse from which the TikTok channel owners achieve an increase in viewings and revenue and also some celebrity.

It is a simple example of exploiting the domestic cat and abusing the domestic cat in order to achieve some fame on social media and this has been going on for many years. It is very unfortunate. 

In this instance, specifically, TikTok channel owners are carting their domestic cats off to the pub to join the throngs of people there which is all very well if the cat is very outgoing and entirely used to it, socialised to it and acclimatise to it and possibly enjoys it.

But that kind of domestic cat is going to be exceedingly rare. It seems to me - and this is what is being reported - that many of these cats are going to be stressed, anxious and worried about being manhandled by their owners to accompany them into a public house where people are going to be talking noisily, where there will be lots of people and where there will be lots of booze which makes people more noisy and sometimes irresponsible in terms of cat caregiving and cat care.

More: A good example of domestic cat exploitation on TikTok showing a grossly obese cat

I'm not criticising in anyway people going to the pub for a good time because people need some fun nowadays in a stressful and difficult world. But it must be the case that these people are taking a domestic cat companion to the pub to achieve more views on their TikTok account. That's the objective. And that is a misplaced objective if it requires there cat is stressed and upset.

More: TikTok: a hotbed for companion animal cruelty crazes.

It appears, according to the Daily Mail that it is Gen Z cat owners (up to 27) who are doing this. One TikTok user, Lara, from the UK, took her cat to the pub and her video that she made from the exploit went viral.

It is a 16 second video which opens up with the social media user carrying her cat who appeared visibly stressed we are told in a blanket to her car. This is the first picture on this page (above). She has a white cat and a pink blanket.

After enduring a car journey her cat then spent the entire evening being cradled by Lara in a pub garden as she socialised with friends. Her video garnered over 262,000 views and is captioned: "Lola loves a pinot now."

There is a reference to Pinot Noir wine which no doubt Lara loves.

In another TikTok video another owner is seen bringing his pet to the pub fully kitted out in a black harness and a £240 Prada bag stop those the picture below.

You can see that the cat is anxious with her eyes wide open and her ears pinned back against her head. These are signs of anxiety which you must expect in this situation. It is very rare for a cat to accept being carried into a noisy interior full of strangers. Some do as mentioned but I would reckon about 95% of domestic cats would hate this.

There is a picture of a Scottish Fold as well taken into a boozer in London while wearing a harness. The cat rides the underground as well and is called Six Beans. That's the picture with the pint of lager on its head below. The cat looks quite calm actually and I suspect that this cat has been taken up for and has got used to it.

Veterinarians are complaining because it is ultimately likely to be an abuse, and the cats are going to be stressed normally. They argue that some cats can be trained to become more resilient in these busy environments but they need to be introduced to them slowly and positively from a young age they say. Correct.

Battersea Cats & Dogs Home recommend that cat owners take at least five or six weeks to ensure that their cat gets used to the outdoors and this difficult environment giving plenty of treats on the way and at all times using a harness because of a domestic cat becomes anxious and scared and runs away then you've got chaos and the cat becomes endangered.

And if you keep a cat in I harness you got to train the cat to accept a harness so all in all to do this kind of thing with a cat requires a lot of preparation and training and it appears to me that these people are not doing that.

Source: Daily Mail.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Live-in maid abused employer's cat that she shared a room with

This is an interesting little cat story from Singapore; a well-organised country with well-developed animal welfare laws which are referred to after the story.

The employer in this instance appears to live in a substantial home because there is a room for a domestic helper to live in. She appears to be a live-in maid and their room has air-conditioning as I presume has the rest of the house.

In addition, the story tells us that the cats of the home have a room of their own as well which is also air-conditioned!

I think that gives you a flavour of what it's like; a well-off person or couple with a son. At least one child perhaps more we don't know.

But the air-conditioning in the maids room failed and they were asked to temporarily live in the cats' room which was air-conditioned.

The son noticed that the maid was abusing the male cat by throwing things at him. He told his parents and suggested that they sack the maid.

The story tells us that he convinced his parents to fire the maid to protect the cat.

But the comments tell us that this didn't happen for a while because they indicate that the cat's owner allowed the maid to live in this room knowing from their son that she was abusing the cat albeit not in a way which physically harmed the cat.

This is a case of mild abuse because the cat was taken to a veterinarian and there were no injuries.

It's more about the attitude of the person rather than the actual harm done. There may have been some mental harm but that's unlikely in my opinion.

The comments to the story include the following:

“Why do you still let the cats sleep with her when you know she’s abusing them? Set up CCTV, get evidence, then report her to the police. Singapore has laws against animal abuse.”

“Please remember that your cats are also family. They are vulnerable and depend on you for safety. Please do not fail them. You won’t know the extent your helper may go or if accidents can happen leading to deaths.”

“After seeing her throw objects at your male cat making him so stressed, you still let him sleep with her behind a closed door?”

One person was so disturbed by it that they suggested that they telephone the police if the cat's owner provided them with more details in this comment as no one was doing anything positive about it:

“Can we have more details so that we can report your helper and family since no one wants to do anything about animal abuse other than you. Let the internet do it for you then.”

My comment: the story is somewhat slightly overhyped I think because it appears that the maid became irritated by the cats or was perhaps upset by being told to live with the cats in a room while the air-conditioning was being repaired for their room. They may have felt belittled by it. There may be a back story here about the way the cat's owner was treating the domestic helper. And we don't know what that back story is.

It's possible that the helper was upset by their treatment and was taking it out on the family cat. There is no information about how this person interacted with the cat before this incident happened.

That said, it's not good if a maid throws things at the family cat! The question that people will ask is can she be trusted? Can she be trusted to not go further and harm the cat? That's why she should be let go from this job in the interests of animal welfare.

Singapore's animal welfare laws in summary

Singapore's animal welfare laws, primarily governed by the *Animals and Birds Act* and enforced by the National Parks Board (NParks), are designed to ensure the proper treatment and well-being of animals across the country. The laws prohibit cruelty towards animals, covering acts such as unnecessary suffering, neglect, and abandonment. This means that any behavior like beating, kicking, or overworking an animal is illegal.

Additionally, the law places a duty of care on animal owners and caregivers, requiring them to provide sufficient food, water, shelter, and necessary veterinary care for their animals. Offenders found guilty of animal cruelty face significant penalties, with fines of up to SGD 15,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 18 months for a first offense. Repeat offenders may face even harsher punishments, including fines up to SGD 30,000 and/or up to three years in prison.

The law also addresses the issue of stray animals, making it illegal to abandon them. Those caught doing so can be prosecuted. Regulations extend to pet shops and breeding facilities, which are required to meet specific standards to ensure the animals' welfare. Furthermore, wildlife protection laws are in place, making it illegal to capture, kill, or trade protected species without proper authorization, with a particular emphasis on endangered species.

Overall, Singapore’s animal welfare framework combines strict legal enforcement with efforts to raise public awareness, promoting humane treatment for all animals.

Singapore

Singapore is a sovereign city-state and island nation located in Southeast Asia. Singapore is known for its strong economy, high standard of living, and efficient government. Despite its small size, it is one of the most developed countries in the world, with a significant global influence in finance, trade, and technology. Singapore gained independence from Malaysia on August 9, 1965, and has since developed into a prosperous nation with a unique blend of cultures and languages.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

University applicants' morality is the 'second exam' before entering

You may remember the case of the highly intelligent, star-student, Xu, in China who wanted to take a masters degree at Lanzhou University's School of Nuclear Science and Technology. He was ranked first of all students during his professional course results and therefore was eminently qualified to begin a masters degree at this university. He passed the written exam with flying colours but according to this university failed the second exam which was to demonstrate the requisite degree of morality.

Xu was allegedly a known cat abuser. It had been fairly widely reported as I understand it that this candidate had allegedly abused and killed cats in his school dormitory and uploaded videos of his cruel acts online. Allegedly he is one of those people who enjoys hurting and killing cats and videoing it at the same time to publicise his cruelty. Most bizarre considering that this person is highly intelligent.

Clearly, intelligence does not always go with morality which is surprising since a lack of education is often a cause of a lack of morality or good behaviour.

Anyway, there are two exams in order to be allowed to enter a university to follow a course there; one is the written exam and the other is the moral exam.

And it appears that in a poll of I presume Chinese students, 90% agree that "graduate admissions should strengthen moral assessment". What that means is that assessing the morality of an applicant needs to be strengthened in future applications. It isn't just about being intelligent enough and getting top marks.

The Global Times remarks that "Good grades may be a sign of being a good student but they certainly do not equate to good character. A student with poor character but good academic performance may pose a significant threat to society in the future."

The statement indicates that universities should also be focusing on developing young people to become useful citizens within society. The role of university is to develop students holistically as I see it. The academic side is obviously the primary target but there's also the morality side on developing students with good character.

The suggestion is that admissions brochures at universities should make this clear. The need to tell applicants that moral character is crucial universities when selecting talented applicants.

Some might argue that it is indeed more important to excel "in the invisible exam of moral character outside the examination hall" as stated by the author of the Global Times article to which I have referred in writing this article.

There is one postscript point to make in this short article which is this. China is known for its animal abuse because there are no animal welfare laws in China of note. 

And therefore it is doubly interesting to see this university focusing on moral character in the context of animal abuse in order to select suitable applicants. 

It's interesting that they find it unacceptable that a person who abused cats should be a student at their university. 

And yet there is a well publicised dog festival in Yulin, China, which takes place annually, during which dogs are horrendously abused and killed in the most brutal way. 

How can the 10-day dog meat market in Yulin be called a FESTIVAL!?!?

How can we reconcile this legalised and formal acceptance of animal abuse in full view of everybody including news media cameras while at the same time this university makes a stand against animal abuse? 

It seems that Chinese society is somewhat schizophrenic but perhaps it is a sign that Chinese society is developing into being more animal welfare aware.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

90% of domestic abuse professionals say pets a barrier to victims seeking safety

The percentages from this study are mind boggling. The picture painted is that when a woman is being abused by her partner, if she is the caregiver of a cat, the cat is exposed to violence too and sometimes killed or the abuser threatens to harm the victim's cat in 90% of the cases.

Cats Protection mural at Leake Street Arches in London

Here is the story:

Nearly 90 percent of professionals aiding domestic abuse survivors consider a pet to be an obstacle to seeking safety, according to a prominent animal welfare charity. Recent data from Cats Protection reveals that numerous cat owners are hindered from exiting abusive relationships by the concern for their pets' fate if abandoned.

The study involved Cats Protection gathering data from 409 individuals employed in social care, domestic abuse agencies, and helplines.

Additionally, they discovered that nearly nine out of ten (87 percent) care professionals have encountered situations where perpetrators have threatened cats or kittens with harm.

As many as 78 percent of respondents have reported physical abuse of cats, and 39 percent have indicated that their cats have been killed. Numerous owners have stated they feel trapped in their homes, concerned for their pets' safety. Cats Protection has partnered with the charity Refuge to provide a haven from domestic abuse through the Lifeline services offered by Cats Protection. This initiative has garnered support from celebrities such as Dame Joanna Lumley and Wendy Turner-Webster, who have made urgent appeals for additional volunteer cat fosterers.

Ms. Lumley stated, "Amid the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse, the bond between a person and their beloved pet can be a beacon of hope and comfort."

Following the charities' collaboration, a mural by artist 7th Pencil in Waterloo's Leake Street Arche, which ensured security in the area last week, was unveiled (see picture above). It was noted that the mural "highlights the unique bond owners share with their feline companions."

Amy Hyde, National Lifeline Manager at Cats Protection told the Evening Standard newspaper: 

“We created the mural alongside Refuge to highlight that there is support out there for both people experiencing domestic abuse through services like Refuge, but also for their cats as well through life lines.

“Cases can be really emotional and we’ve also come across children going into refuge. One of the nice parts of our role is we’ll quite often receive little pictures that the children have drawn of their cat that they want to send in to show to it.

“And we also keep the family updated of how the cats getting along whilst they are in care. So we'll keep them in foster care, normally for anything between six to nine months whilst the survivor is receiving support and is finding new housing. But we have been receiving so many calls so the Lifeline service is seeing one of its busiest times right now.”

The Cats Protection Lifeline service, supported by Refuge, has expanded its reach. Last year, the service extended from the Southeast to East Anglia, Yorkshire, and the Midlands. This year, it has further expanded to include Scotland and Wales.

This expansion comes after a particularly busy period for the charity in January, when Lifeline received 104 referrals, a 74 percent increase from the previous year, with 98 of those from the Southeast of England.

For daily updates with the best stories, you can register for newsletters from The Standard.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Owners trick dogs with lemon slices in new animal exploitation trend on TikTok

A veterinarian, Dr. Anna Foreman, is yet another who has expressed concern about videos on TikTok in which animals are abused and exploited. TikTok has acquired a bit of a reputation for animal abuse videos; videos to attract viewers at any cost and the animal is there as a convenient subject to be used for this goal.

Owners trick dogs with lemon slices in new animal exploitation trend on TikTok. Screenshot.

On TikTok there is a hashtag  "#DogVSLemon" which has amassed 20.1 million views on the social media platform. That said, we should recognise the fact that TikTok statistics are heavily distorted by the way videos are looped to replay immediately after you've stop viewing it. I would estimate that all TikTok videos have received accurate views which are somewhere near a quarter of that which is stated adjacent to the video.

In one video which has apparently been viewed 16 million times, we see an uncomfortable puppy after its owner throws a lemon into its mouth. There has been a 65% increase in online searches for "dogs eating lemons".

It would seem that the amusing aspect of these videos is to see a dog's discomfort when they chomp down on a bitter lemon. Dr. Anna said that: “Many dogs will eat anything thrown at them (or grab any food on the floor etc.) without a second thought, often not even sniffing or tasting it first. “This can be good in a few scenarios, for example with giving a dog a tablet, however, it can be quite dangerous in many others.”

She added that “Sour citrus fruits such as lemon and lime tend not to be palatable to dogs, however if eaten in anything more than minimal quantities can cause gastrointestinal upsets or more severe clinical signs like collapse.

“Throwing food at a dog for them to catch is a choking hazard, particularly if the piece of food is too large to swallow whole.”

Owners who do this might at least slightly erode the relationship between themselves and their dog. They might undermine the trust that the dog has in them.

And it is also worth saying that this trick cannot be repeated with the same dog over and over again because they will learn that if they participate they'll be uncomfortable. It is a good example of negative reinforcement or punishment to alter behaviour. It is a clear-cut case of owners exploiting their companion dogs.

We have seen on numerous occasions owners exploiting companion cats in the same way. They are called "funny cat videos" but they aren't so funny for the cat because a study found that more than a third of cats in these videos are stressed.

RELATED: 34% of cats featured in ‘funny cat videos’ are upset and stressed.

Finally, a cat or dog might become stressed when performing the lemon throwing trick for a social media video. This may lead to aggression and that aggression might, on rare occasions, be directed at their owner or somebody else in the vicinity.

It is unwise behaviour and TikTok should stop it. They do promise to moderate videos but as usual for successful platforms like TikTok, the administrators have an impossible task. 

There are too many uploaded videos and they are therefore reliant upon other users to notify them of animal abuse or other policy breaches. This doesn't happen enough and never will. It is a failure within social media.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Academically gifted postgraduate university student with a history of abusing cats is REJECTED

NEWS AND OPINION: This is a another story from China and as it happens another story about a Chinese university student. I've just written about a Chinese university student who was expelled because of his alleged abuse of his pet cat in an horrific manner. In this instance, the student who is named Xu is reported to have a history of abusing cats and as a consequence he was rejected by two top Chinese universities. China Daily reports on this and is the source of this blog post.

Academically gifted postgraduate Chinese student. This is a fictional creation. Not a real person.

It is alleged that he was abusing cats in his dormitory at Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Like other cat abusers he posted videos of his miscreant behaviour online. This took place in February. In one clip he is shown putting a cat in a bucket of water and treading on the cat's head.

The videos were evidence against him. He was investigated and interviewed with his parents. He admitted wrongdoing and promised not to repeat it.

He is an engineering graduate. He was applying for a masters program at Nanjing University School of Physics late in 2023.

He had the highest total score among the applicants for the course but was nonetheless rejected because it his alleged cat abuse. It indicates that the University is taking a moral stance.

There appears to be no definitive statement from the University confirming that he was rejected because of his cat abuse but it is reported that "his abuse of cats may have affected their decision."

Chinese citizens commenting on the University's Sina Weibo blog urged the University to be cautious about enrolling Xu. The comment indicated that morality plays a role in selecting candidates. One commenter said: "Morality prevails over intelligence and academic performance".

The former editor-in-chief of Global Times wanted Xu to be given a chance. He said that posting the video of animal abuse was clearly a serious mistake but indicated he thought he had potential psychological problems. Notwithstanding that, he suggested that "society should provide the student with an opportunity for correction, allowing this young person to have prospects and hope."

Hu wanted the student to progress in life and be given the opportunity to do so. Comment: the big question here is whether Xu has the capacity to correct his behaviour because as Hu stated it appears that Xu has mental health problems. And therefore he needs treatment and he needs to be certified as being mentally well enough to participate in such a course before being allowed to do so.

Comment: The Chinese government needs to make that all important step of introducing general animal welfare laws to protect all animals. Laws can change opinions and attitudes as they gradually embue the citizens with a different attitude towards animal sentience and welfare. Animal welfare laws can indirectly set moral standards as is the case with the UK's Animal Welfare Act 2006

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Student expelled from Chinese university for badly abusing his pet cat

Guo Xiang kept a pet cat in the dormitory and allegedly abused the cat many times. The Facebook post says it all actually although the story is reported on the website of Global Times.

This image is from Facebook. I have cannot verify that this is the man involved.

The executive council of the university issued a document expelling Guo after following the relevant provisions of the Jiangxi Normal University Student Disciplinary Management Measures.

"According to the decision of the office meeting of the school, Guo, who kept a pet cat in the dormitory and engaged in multiple acts of animal abuse, which led to a major negative public opinion on the internet, causing a particularly bad impact on the school. At the same time, Guo also engaged in spreading obscene videos, skipping 12 classes, and other violations of school rules and regulations. According to the relevant provisions of the disciplinary measures, Guo has been expelled from the school."

From Jiangxi Normal University Academy of Fine Arts (Yaohu Campus):

"Completion opinion: Hello, citizen! Your message has been received. In view of the fact that student Guo Xiang kept a pet cat in the dormitory and abused the cat many times, and the cat abuse caused major negative public opinion on the Internet, which caused a particularly bad impact on the school, the school office decided to agree to expel student Guo Xiang according to the relevant provisions of the "Jiangxi Normal University Student Disciplinary Punishment Management Measures". If you have any objections, please call the Jiangxi Normal University Student Affairs Office: 0791-88120145 for consultation. Thank you for your support and understanding of Jiangxi's government service work."

Comment: I was surprised to read that Guo kept a pet cat in his dorm. He seems to have kept the cat as a recipient of abuse. Quite horrendous. The complaint from commenters is that he was not prosecuted for animal cruelty but that is completely unsurprising for me as there are no general animal welfare laws in China to protect pets under the circumstances described.

There was no chance of his being prosecuted for the crime of animal cruelty as the crime appears not to exist in China 🤢😢.

The Global Times reports:

On March 29, a netizen posted a video claiming that a male student at the campus had been abusing cats in the dormitory over an extended period. In the video, the male student punched and kicked the cat, and ruthlessly beat it with a hanger, causing the cat to cry out in pain when it was knocked against the door.

Guo was reported by a fellow student on March 29th, 2024. The university was very concerned (reported) and investigated. The concern was about the university's reputation which suffered harm. I hope they were also concerned about the cat.

There is no report on the state of health of the cat and/or what happened to him/her which is indicative of the anthropocentric nature of the reporting (human-centric nature of reporting meaning it all turns on human behaviour).

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

SPCA Singapore investigate maid who swung cat around in a viral video

NEWS AND COMMENT: I am not sure that many authorities in many countries would actually investigate this incident of alleged cat abuse. It is cat abuse but it is not a serious example. But in Singapore, the SPCA went around to the person's home and interviewed them to find out what went on.

And what went on is this: a woman dancing outside while holding a black-and-white cat in both hands and swinging the cat around to the music. Not good but I've seen far worse as you can imagine.

Image: Stomp. Screenshots from the video.

The woman is a maid apparently. Animal lovers criticised her and requested that the relevant authorities intervene. They wanted her to be investigated which I think is a little bit severe but understandable I guess.

The video of the incident was uploaded Facebook and it garnered 2200 shares.

The executive director of the Singapore SPCA, Ms Aarthi Sankar told Stomp (I'm not sure what this is but it is some kind of group or website which uses social media) that they had been alerted to the incident. It appears that the video had been uploaded to a website called stomp which has a Facebook page.

We are told that during the SPCA visit, the woman in question was remorseful and that she didn't realise that her actions might harm the cat.

The same woman had apparently uploaded another video with the same cat but this time she was petting the her gently. My impression is that she is a reasonable woman who was doing something which she considered to be okay and is probably surprised if not shocked at the backlash.

The SPCA advised the woman about the importance of interacting appropriately with animals and the potential harm that her behaviour might have caused.

It is further reported that the matter will be "escalated to the authorities for further action". I am also surprised to hear about that.

It seems that Singapore has some pretty strict animal welfare regulations or laws or/and their attitude is very proper in terms of cat caregiving and interactions with domestic cats. This is a great thing. It appears Singapore is a very well organised country in many respects.

My research indicates that Singapore has very strict laws to maintain order in the country. Many people consider the city's laws to be some of the strictest in the world with regard to certain specific aspects such as illegal drugs.

Singapore is an island country and a city state in the maritime Southeast Asia. It has an area of 734.3 km² and a gross domestic product of US$466 billion. This population is 5.67 million as at 2022.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Putting domestic cats into a monkey enclosure to kill the rats backfires

Kunming Zoo is located in the Yunnan Province of China. In that zoo they have a monkey enclosure. And in the monkey enclosure there were rats which migrated to the enclosure after a food storage issue.

Because hundreds of rats got into the enclosure, the zookeepers decided to introduce domestic cats into the enclosure to get rid of the rats. In all 10 cats ended up in the enclosure.

Woman tries to jump into monkey enclose to save the cats placed in it to clear the rats but the monkey's molested the cats. Image by MikeB based on images from AsiaWire

A problem developed in that the monkeys started to abuse the cats with apparently some mounting the cats for sex and others pulling out whiskers.

A visitor to the zoo became distressed at what she saw and decided to jump into the enclosure to save the cats from abuse.

There is a picture on the Internet of a woman being grabbed as she tries to jump into the enclosure.

The upshot is that the cats were removed from the enclosure. The woman is okay and the cats are been removed except for 2 to deal with any remaining rodents.

Apparently there are no issues concerning cats and monkeys. They get on well we are told at the moment.

The zoo management "expressed their thanks to the public for their worries about the animal's welfare and emphasised their commitment to looking back on the things they did wrong and will consider public opinions." The quote comes from the Daily Star.

It appears that the remaining two cats will be rehoused in safer places by the China Small Animal Protection Association.

That's the story. The headline is rather more dramatic and it states, "Woman jumps in monkey enclosure to save cats being molested and mounted by animals".

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

10 cats found dead on a rural road in Staffordshire, UK

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a very recent report from the BBC. 10 cats have been found dead on a rural road namely Butt Lane in Gnosall, Staffordshire, UK, on Christmas Eve.

The report does not tell us the cause of death. The police are investigating and PCSO Patrick Wright has appealed to the public for any information that they might have concerning the incident to come forward.

Comment: it is highly unusual perhaps almost unique for this kind of event to happen in the UK. In fact, I have not heard about this sort of event happening anywhere else including the USA. Sometimes cats are abandoned by the side of the road in crates or in boxes but to find 10 deceased cats on the side of a country lane is very disturbing and I would say perhaps unique.

If you know something then please tell the police. They are investigating we are told.

The road concerned:

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Can cats tell if someone is bad, good or in-between?

A user of quora.com asked the question whether cats can tell if someone is bad, good or neutral? The person cited the example of a person who came around to their home to adopt a kitten. The person thought that the man might be a bit dodgy and therefore told him that they would have to check out his references. The man went away. He thinks that his cat "gave me a very disgusted look and took the kitten [the kitten that was going to be adopted] and laid with her all night. Luckily the man and his kids never returned."

He thinks that his cat recognised the potential adopter as a bad person. Is he right? I think we have to take a commonsense, more scientific approach.

I don't think cats can read the minds of unknown people with whom they have had no previous experiences if the person is doing nothing. I don't think cats have a telepathic ability to pick up bad vibes from a person. So, I don't think, without more, a cat can tell if a person is good, bad or in between the two.

They can tell if a person is bad through their actions obviously. If a person abuses a cat that cat will then be fearful of that person if it happens more than once. My thought is that if a person inadvertently harms a cat but then is loving towards the cat afterwards, the cat will forget. But consistent abuse of any sort will clearly make the cat fearful of that person.

And there's no doubt that in good relationships between a cat owner and their cat, the cat warms to the person and a very close bond is created. So, cats recognise good people through their actions.

The big question, I admit, is that whether cats can sense if a person is bad. I don't think they can. A favourite author of mine and a renowned biologist, Dr. Desmond Morris, says that cats tend to go towards people who dislike cats if in a group of people there are those who dislike cats and those who like them.

He argues that cats do this because people who dislike cats don't look at them and when people look at cats, they can stare at them and staring can be off-putting to a domestic cat. That's his theory. I am not altogether onside with that theory.

But he is more or less saying that a person who dislikes cats and therefore is liable to be unpleasant around a cat can draw a cat in. This indicates to me that the cat is not picking up the fact that a person might be a cat hater and therefore to be avoided. Cats operate on simple physical, visual, olfactory and auditory signals to decide whether to go towards or move away from people and other animals.

Did the cost-of-living crisis and the pandemic cause "an animal welfare crisis"?

NEWS AND VIEWS - UK: Online news media, today, is blaming the cost-of-living crisis in the UK combined with the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath for "creating an animal welfare crisis with vital services [which] are stretched to the limit".

Picture by the RSPCA.

Before I go into the details of two reports from different sources about this animal welfare crisis in different parts of the UK, I would like to add immediately that it is a very poor excuse that animal welfare becomes a crisis because people have less money in their pocket or it is after the pandemic.

The RSPCA reports that there were 1072 cat cruelty reports in 2022 in Wales, UK and out of these complaints, 600 were calls concerning neglect and 89 regarded intentional harm. The RSPCA received three reports every minute.

This, in my opinion, has nothing to do with the pandemic or money. When you adopt a cat - and it does not matter whether you adopt that cat during the pandemic, before it or after it - you do so with a commitment to care for that cat for the cat's lifetime. 

And if an emergency happens or a catastrophe occurs to you which affects your finances and you feel that you must release your cat to somebody else, you commit to rehoming the cat yourself with care and concern or you take your cat to a shelter and asked them to do it. 

The RSPCA run shelters. Also, in the UK Cats Protection run shelters via foster homes.

Running out of money because of the cost-of-living crisis or because it is post-Covid is not a reason for harming your cat or abandoning your cat or being neglectful of your cat. This is very poor reporting and thinking. It is not critical enough.

Everybody goes through difficult times but you can surmount them and you don't have to give up your cat in the process. I would bet my bottom dollar that all the cat cruelty reports reported to the RSPCA had no connection whatsoever, if you analysed it properly, to the cost-of-living crisis or the pandemic.

It'll be about carelessness, wanton neglect, callousness, hating cats, immoral behaviour; all these things about more likely to be behind cat cruelty.

Separately, the BBC reports also about the RSPCA cat cruelty reports regarding 2022. The BBC reports on the county of Lincolnshire in the UK. They say that hundreds of cats were intentionally harmed, neglected or abandoned in 2022.

Apparently, it is the RSPCA who think that the Covid pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis is to blame. Are they guessing? Are they just going along with the general flow because I see a lot of news media reports on the cost-of-living crisis and how it impacts people's finances. You don't make a presumption because people are short of money that they have to be cruel to their cat. That is not an equation which adds up automatically.

Nationally, the BBC reports, that almost 18,000 cat cruelty complaints were reported to the RSPCA in 2022 and they include abandonments, neglect and intentional harm. There were 1726 intentional harm incidents which included killings, beatings, poisonings and "improper killings". This represents a 25% increase from the year before.

The RSPCA pick up the pieces. They see an awful lot of cat cruelty but this cat cruelty is perpetrated by immoral, miscreants; people who are bad and who have no sensitivity towards animal sentience. Let's not pass the buck onto something which doesn't really exist.

Humans prefer to look at animal abuse videos than admire an old lady who walks miles to get cat food in a war

What is wrong with humanity? Was it always like this? It was. One thing I have learnt in running websites is that people are far more interested in looking at horrible and notorious animal abuse videos and reading animal abuse stories than for example admiring an old lady who travelled miles on foot in a war-torn country to buy a bag of cat food to feed her precious cat, perhaps her only friend left alive after Putin's illegal and brutal invasion on Ukraine.

This is the enduring lady I personally admire tremendously. She is suffering and caring for her cat under very tough conditions.

The woman deserves admiration and support. She is the kind of person all of us should admire. She's better than most of us. But no, the published picture of her (click this link to see her) has been seen once - just a single time - in 12 hours even after the page was 'advertised' on social media.

Yet, for 3 years one page on Luke Magnotta has garnered millions of hits. It still receives 30 hits every half hour. And it is a page that has a link to a notorious video of this psychopath killing kittens. That's what attracts people. The criminal and the bad. Not the admirable and the good.

I suspect most of the people who are obsessed with criminal abuse of animals are young. Gen X types is my guess.  The older people can't take that kind of crap anymore.

You need a fresh brain to look at that kind of crappy video. The only reason why it is on one of my sites is because it gets hits and that means advertising revenue which goes to charity a lot of the time.

So, what's wrong with humankind that makes us so interested in the bad stuff?  Why is the interesting news always bad news? Crime has always fascinated humans. Why? I have not seen a really convincing answer. For me the reason is in the next paragraph (the last sentence).

The experts say that it is because humans have a 'negativity bias'. We are interested in bad (negative) news as it warns us of a potential threat. That might be too nice to humans. The reasons might be simpler than that: we find the bad, gross stuff more titillating. It tweaks out tired, bored brains.

All I know is that I have to go in search of bad stuff to get hits. And science stuff isn't very popular either as it is too complicated. People want simple, in your face thrills, instantly without any effort.

The world is getting lazier and more bored. Family life is slowly breaking up. Marriage in developed counties is losing favour over simple partnerships.

In the UK the fabric of society is gradually fraying and society is destabilising. We are heading in the wrong direction. I am not saying that we can't change course and do things right. I am just saying I don't like the current attitudes which includes an obsession with negative news and grisly animal abuse by notorious criminals.

P.S. there is some hope! Animal rescue is always popular. But less so than the above-mentioned videos. Obviously, we are all different and not everyone likes animal abuse videos. There are many great people. Just too many bad 'uns.

Many people love animals particularly their pets. The trouble here is that not enough people know about the animal abuse which is a necessity of intensive farming. We really have to change our ways and change farming for good. Far too much animal abuse in it. 

DON’T watch this video of a piglet crying out for their mum. JUST DON’T.

Click on the link above and take a lot at the way pigs are often treated on intensive farming farms. It'll make you wince and put you off eating 'pork' for ever.

Classic case of domestic violence combined with animal violence (kitten)

NEWS AND COMMENT-HOLLYWOOD: This is the latest story in which domestic and animal violence merge and become one. We know - everyone knows - that there is a strong linkage between domestic and animal violence. By "domestic violence" I'm referring to human partners engaged in violence against each other normally the male against the female.

Aghajanian (left) and Johnson. Photo by Nancy Vienneau for The Tennessean.

In this instance, a top Los Angeles chef has been accused by her estranged wife of torturing and killing their two pet cats, one of them a kitten, as she filed for divorce and requested a restraining order over the abuse that he meted out.

FBI Realise the Important Connection Between Animal Abuse and Other Serious Crimes 

I'm concerned about the violence against the cats obviously. Elizabeth Johnson has filed for a domestic violence restraining order against her estranged husband Will Aghajanian. The story has been reported in The Los Angeles Times and The Daily Mail.

Elizabeth Johnson alleges that Aghajanian joked about feeding their kitten to coyotes. She also says that she witnessed Aghajanian shaking their kitten which caused his or her death the next day.

Aghajanian put the dead kitten into the trash can and insisted on keeping it there in the house according to the wife. Comment: to cause her more emotional harm allegedly.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) dramatically under-reporting animal cruelty

As to the domestic violence aspects of the story she says that Aghajanian mentally and psychologically abused her. This, she says, kept her from realising what was going on with the animals in the house.

Aghajanian denies it and says that they are "false allegations". He claims that he is the victim and that his estranged wife repeatedly threatened to kill him and actually burned him at least twice with a metal spatula and a spoon which she had placed in a fryer according to the court filings and as reported by Mail Online.

Their restaurant Horses opened in September 2021 and immediately received rave reviews and was an instant celebrity favourite.

Comment: I can think of one outstanding comment namely this. Aghajanian wanted to harm his estranged wife the best way he could because of the animosity between them without physically hitting her. 

He knew that she was connected emotionally to the kitten. I would allege that he decided to harm the kitten to harm her. Perhaps he didn't want to kill the kitten but he shook the kitten so hard that it did kill him or her. It's a simple formula. We see this all the time. 

It is invariably the man who harms or kills cats and kittens to get at their female partner because it is invariably the case that the female partner adopts the kitten or cat and is more connected to the companion animal than the man. 

Like I said, it's an old tried and tested scenario which happens all over the world all the time and occasionally is exposed in court filings and in criminal prosecutions.

Calico cat posted from China to Canada!

This is an extraordinary story but I doubt whether it is the first time that this has happened. This is a news story plus my opinion. Canada Border Services Agency officers at the Vancouver International Mail Center in Richmond, British Columbia contacted the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals when they discovered a calico cat inside a box that appears to have been posted from China.

Calico cat posted from China to Canada. They've named her Precious. Image: BC SPCA.

The agency workers noticed that the box was damaged which allowed them to look inside whereupon they saw two eyes blinking back at them! They managed to coax the calico (tortoiseshell-and-white) cat out of the box into a dog kennel in which there was bedding and water.

They say the cat was healthy but frightened. Unsurprising that they were frightened. The agency service workers contacted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the BC SPCA sent an animal control officer to take the cat to an emergency veterinary clinic.

She was stabilised in the clinic but nobody is sure exactly where the cat came from or how long she was in transit. Because of that she was vaccinated against rabies and given rehydration fluids and tested for diseases and parasites.

She started to settle down and was placed with a foster carer at the BC SPCA who intends to adopt her when she has fully recovered.

Under foster care she is improving and has started to eat and drink more and is becoming comfortable in her surroundings.

My opening words are that this is an extraordinary story but as also mentioned it is not a unique one. In 2018 people tried to smuggle in a tiger cub at the Texas border. And in 2022 there was an attempt to smuggle two toucans into the US hidden in a purse. That attempt was thwarted by U.S. Customs and border protection.

Source: Newsweek.

Veterinarian exasperated with viral cat videos with one showing morbidly obese cat

Exasperated Ben the Vet. Screenshot.

Viral cat videos can be abusive of the cat. This is what exasperates Ben the Vet on TikTok. Of course, he is concerned with health but also with reality like me. There is a lot of shortsightedness across a swath of cat owners about concern for their cat's welfare as they dive into video making in an effort to make a mark within this highly competitive area of internet social media.

The video says it all. And I am very sympathetic to his views. I've been saying these things myself for 15 years. The problem is that people want to make interesting videos. I understand that and am also sympathetic to their desires. Cats are interesting to a lot of people. Unfortunately, it can lead to cat abuse in various forms sometimes very mild and sometimes more severe. 

RELATED: 34% of cats featured in ‘funny cat videos’ are upset and stressed.

It has been shown that sometimes cats become stressed during these viral videos. So, the videos are, without being tiresome, not uncommonly an abuse and exploitation of the domestic cat to entertain people which is what PETA hates and me as well. 

I like Ben because he voices my thoughts perhaps better than I can. Veterinarians anyway have a status which they can use to help educate society. People tend to listen to them. And he points out that this cat is morbidly obese to the point where it will seriously jeopardise the cat's health. The owner appears to have ignored this point and tried to make a funny viral video on the back of it. 

As a vet he doesn't like it. He is exasperated. As a non-vet I don't like it either. The first duty of a cat caregiver is to keep them safe and within that umbrella it means keeping them healthy. 

After that it is our duty to entertain them and keep them happy and not for them to entertain us although inevitably, they do if they are well cared for.

Woman fully dressed a cat as a baby with nappy to smuggle drugs

NEWS AND COMMENT - NIZHZY, RUSSIA: A woman abused this placid and apparently accepting cat (or was the cat drugged) in order to smuggle drugs in baby clothes and a baby snow suit. The cat was dressed head to toe in baby clothes including a nappy and put inside the snow suit. The narcotic drugs were hidden in the snow suit. I guess the nappy was added purely for a functional reason to allow the cat to go to the toilet. Thoughtful!

Screenshot. Young grey cat dressed as baby as a way of hiding drug smuggling.

The criminal enterprise failed and the woman was arrested. The police discovered powdered methylephedrine.

Each package contained 170 grams of the drug. I have to look at this story from the standpoint of animal welfare. 

Clearly there has been animal abuse. The cat seems to be okay but we don't know. Perhaps the cat was drugged.

I'd suspect that they had been as it is hard to envisage a cat complying with that kind of extreme confinement without complaining and making a considerable amount of noise which would have given the game away.

The police intercepted the 'mother' and 'baby'. The drugs were being smuggled into a resort of some sort perhaps for sale.

However, if the drug was powdered methylephedrine, this is not a drug to get you high but used for relieving coughs and congestion.

Perhaps it is irrelevant. The interesting and disturbing aspect of the story is the bizarre and elaborate way she hid the drugs. 

The woman appears to be a cat lover she wore a hat with 2 cat ears! Some cat lover.

This is the Daily Mail version of the video in case the other fails (the often do).

Are cat hoarders criminals?

You might be forgiven for believing that all cat hoarders are criminals because cat hoarding is almost invariably cruel to cats - a violation of animal welfare laws. That is the impression one gets. But it is not necessarily the right one. Although it is fair to say that perhaps 90% of genuine cat hoarders will be neglectful of their cats and through this neglect be cruel to them causing great harm and often including death.

Many cats in truck looking at camera. There were 43 cats inside this U-Haul truck. Image in the public domain.

The Cat House on the Kings

But some cat hoarders do such a good job in looking after their cats that they can only be praised. Perhaps the most famous person on the planet looking after the largest number of cats is Lynea Lattanzio who is the founder and I guess manager of America's largest cat rescue based in California called The Cat House on the Kings. 

The last time I checked, they had about a thousand cats in their care. I dread to think what their veterinary and food bill is monthly. She is not a cat hoarder in the conventional sense but clearly, she can't say no to a rescue cat. And that is a quality that cat hoarders have.

But all the cats are very carefully cared for and she is the most admirable woman and a champion of cat rescue.

Over the years they have saved over 30,000 cats and even more than 7000 dogs.

Individual circumstances - case by case basis

Whether a cat hoarder is a criminal or not depends upon the individual circumstances and whether they cause harm to their cats due to a failure to provide a proper environment for them and to provide proper care. Are they breaking the relevant animal welfare laws under which they operate? 

UK - RSPCA - Animal Welfare Act 2006

Interestingly, I recently did a bit of work on this. I asked the question, "how bad does it have to get for the RSPCA in the UK to come out and investigate?"

The question was in relation to multi-cat homes. How bad does the home have to be in terms of gross smells and the place becoming uninhabitable before the RSPCA take action? And I mentioned a neighbour of mine who has 10 cats and there are horrible smells coming out of her home. Her home is just about habitable (but not to some) but it is pretty cruel on the cats in my view. They are all full-time indoor cats breathing ammonia daily.

I described the situation to the RSPCA and they told me that it was not breaking the law under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in the UK. That gives you a guideline as to the point at which a cat hoarder becomes a criminal or simply becomes the owner of a multi-cat environment.

Mental health

If they do break the animal welfare laws of the state (in America) in which they operate then the question that has to be asked next is, "what is their mental state?"

Often, it is arguably inappropriate to criminalise a person with mental health problems. And genuine cat hoarders often have mental health problems. 

They often genuinely believe that they are doing some good by rescuing cats and they simply are unable to truly observe what they're doing objectively. 

So rather than punish them the argument is that they should be treated but at the same time they should be banned from looking after animals until assessed as being competent to do so.