NYPD violently arrest a beloved busker with toy cats on the subway

NEWS AND COMMENT-NEW NEW YORK CITY, USA: The cats in this story are incidental to it but it caught my eye. A New York City subway saxophone busker, John Ajilo, has been operating on the subway for 5 years. He's been entertaining the millions of people who use this transit system and his act is called "Dancing Is Happiness". He operates out of the Herald Square subway spot.

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The interesting twist to his performances that he has toy cats dancing in front of him. It looks a bit odd but like I said it catches the eye. And he does occupy quite a a lot of space but, that said, he's been there a long time and nobody has complained as far as we know.

 John Ajilo is arrested for allegedly doing nothing wrong. Image: Instagram user ppv_tahoe.

And then suddenly, the NYPD turn up in force and arrest him. Fortunately, a subway user videoed the encounter. And it's pretty brutal and uncomfortable. Initially he talks to the cops and then they suddenly grab hold of him. He shouts "I'm not doing anything wrong". He struggles and then the other cops join in and restrain him.

And it seems that the reason why they arrested this guy for apparently doing nothing wrong is that the New York City Mayor Eric Adams rode the New York City subway system last week for three hours plus and was shocked at what he saw. He saw a lot of unattended crime and decided on a crackdown. 

It seems that the police took it upon themselves to crack down on John Ajilo in a kind of cleanup process. But if he has done nothing wrong in terms of criminality then it is the police who have done something wrong: they have arrested him falsely. They falsely imprisoned him. And technically, the police should be liable for the crime of false imprisonment and assault.

We don't know why John Ajilo uses dancing cats as part of his act. It is probably because he realises that, on the Internet, cats are very popular and have been for ages. He probably saw them somewhere and decided to put them in his act to add a bit of colour and entertainment.

The general public who have seen the video question whether it is a useful use of resources for the police to arrest a busker in this way while serious crime soars in New York City and terrified commuters refuse to take subway trains. A series of high-profile crimes on the subway has left users with the feeling that the subway is unsafe and so they avoid it.

As is the case with the London Underground, there's been a 60% drop in users of the New York City subway since pre-pandemic times with roughly 3.4 million daily commuters using the system. This might be a permanent state of affairs as employees have adopted flexible working practices which means there is no longer the daily commute to work for a large number of people. 

This in turn means that there is going to have to be some fundamental change to the number of employees working on the subway and the number of trains running if it is to breakeven financially. The same problem exists in London.

UK cost of living crisis pushes up cat and dog abandonment sometimes callously and cruelly

The newspapers are reporting on an aspect of the cost of living crisis in the UK which is troubling to me and other animal advocates. People are giving up cats and dogs in greater numbers than normal and the RSPCA as a shelter and sanctuary is running out of space. They are going on waiting lists. I suspect that this problem is compounded by the end of Covid during which people adopted more cats and dogs than usual to keep themselves company. These were arguably irresponsible adoptions without concern for the long-term consequences and responsibilities.

One of 11 puppies thrown away like rubbish in Norfolk, UK. Photo: RSPCA. See story below.

And on their Facebook page, the RSPCA illustrate the callousness with which some British citizens throw away their pets. They don't bother to contact the RSPCA or any other shelter to offer them their companion animal but they simply put them in plastic bags and leave them next to the rubbish.

July 25, 2022

The RSPCA have an appeal for information on a female tabby kitten found by a dog walker. The kitten had been tied up in a plastic bag and dumped like rubbish in Broad Grove, Norfolk. They say that thankfully she was uninjured and is in generally good health. I suspect that is because she was found quickly. But for the person who found her she would have died of suffocation or starvation or perhaps being crushed when thrown into the back of a rubbish lorry.

Kitten thrown away in a plastic bag because of the cost of living crisis in the UK. Image: RSPCA.

13 hours ago

This is a more serious abandonment. It couldn't be more callous, heartless and cruel. Fortunately, once again, a kind person spotted this problem. Somebody had dumped 11 puppies in a rubbish bag in Halifax, UK. They were left to die. The person took the puppies to the RSPCA where their dedicated animal rescuers and animal centre staff are now hand rearing them. At least it produced a wonderful picture as you can see at the head of this page.

Of course it is disgusting to me that someone can do this. I won't be the only person. Margaret commented saying: "Some people have no feelings for animals. It's disgusting the amount of cruelty that goes on in the UK and around the world."

That's true. Of course, there are lots of great people, sensitive and gentle people who want to help animals. It isn't all bad. Although sometimes it looks like that. Sadly, it is the good people who have to tidy up the mess of the bad people. It is a good people who have to rescue and rehabilitate companion animals thrown away like rubbish by the bad people.

Picture of cat tattoo discussion

Here is a nice TikTok video of a charming young woman telling us why she wanted a cat tattoo but not of her cat. She was correctly anxious about the tattoo not being a decent likeness of her cat. That would have been too difficult to bear. So, she took a picture from Messrs Google. This makes a lot of sense to me. I am sure that it is impossible for a tattoo artist to accurately replicate the appearance of your cat. It is always going to be a failure.

To play the video please click on the center play button and then the play button lower left! 😎. Yes, I know it is a very high-tech website.

I wrote the section below in 2008, 14 years ago! The bit above has been added on June 27th 2022. I felt that the page needed to be refreshed.

Part 2

Something completely different for me - picture of a cat tattoo. Cat tattoos are popular it seems. As my site is called "Pictures of Cats" it means any pictures of cats and not just photographs of cats. There is the interesting dimension of why people tattoo at all and why cats? A study of human nature is important in the study of domestic cats as the latter is dependent on the former. Here's a picture of a cat tattoo or three :) with the stories that go with them. 

 

1. This is a picture of a cat tattoo on a women's arm photographed by Tzatziki and her copyright (she is female I think). The woman who has the tattoo is a graphic designer apparently. It is part of a bigger tattoo which the owner called The Debutante. The photograph was taken in the queue to the toilet (bathroom in the USA). It is very simple and elegant the photographer says. I agree. The photographer didn't know the person with the tattoo, but you can get to meet people in queues quite easily as it passes the time nicely. Maybe it was a party? What makes people have tattoos. There is probably a lot going on in the head that is unseen and which we can glimpse at if that person has a tattoo. I think it originates in the desire to decorate ourselves that goes back probably millions of years. Many animals are "decorated" to be more noticeable, to stand out. It is a form of exhibitionism.

 

2. This is a Cheshire cat on a man's leg. You've got to look closely to see that it is a Cheshire Cat. The photograph is by nats . This was taken at Disneyland. The photographer didn't know the subject and while the photograph was being taken Tinkerbell was lighting up the night sky. Tattooing may be a remnant (or a continuing need) to mark events in ones life. Two of the women's tattoos are big cats. This is a marker that they have grown from a girl to womanhood and to beware, perhaps :) Perhaps she is saying she is an individual to be taken notice of. A marker of a rite of passage from one part of her life to another. A Cheshire cat, the subject matter of the tattoo on this person, was created by Lewis Caroll. The cat smiled and asked Alice in Wonderland difficult and philosophical questions. The tattoo may be a statement about this person's character.

 3. This is a photograph of a "bondage kitten", believe it or not. It was taken by the friend of the person with the tattoo, who said he was going to have it done and when the two bumped into each other he showed it off. This photograph was taken by gillicious My guess is that the title "bondage kitten" is just making a picture of a cat playing with string a lot more sexy for the client.

 4. This is a tattoo of a big cat on the left arm of a female pop band member. Yes sir it is that....It looks like a leopard. Big cats are popular for obvious reasons. People like cats; big cats are very impressive and beautiful creatures so are good subjects for body decoration. There may also be an element of female power, women's liberation stuff here. Beauty and strength combined being the message. The photograph was taken by acb and is copyright acb.

5. This is another picture of a cat tattoo. This time a big cat, a panther, on the arm of a woman. It's more woman power stuff I think. Picture is copyright and by mhaithaca Update: Picture of cat tattoo -- 

Here are some more added later (19th January 2009): Photo by graphic.ward - very delicate and tasteful. What do you think?

   

Picture of Cat Tattoo  above-- Photo by chaserpaul. This tattoo is in memory of a beloved cat that has gone over the rainbow bridge. His name was E.D. The cat tattoo was done in 3 2-hour-sittings by Dirk of East Atlanta Tattoo. 

 Picture of Cat Tattoo -- Risks involved in tattooing 

I think a bit of information on the risks is useful to people considering a cat tattoo. As we know, a tattoo is made by piercing the skin and injecting colored ink into the skin. It can be quite painful understandably. The skin is the body's main protection against infection. Once damaged by the tattoo machine, at least potentially, there is a risk of infection. Also, the long-term effects of the dyes placed in the skin are unknown as they are unregulated. Some possible illnesses that can occur on being tattooed (these it would seem are relatively rare considering the number of tattoos carried out) are:

• if the machinery making the tattoo is contaminated by hepatitis C, hepatitis B, tetanus, tuberculosis and HIV (AIDS), then these diseases could infect the person being tattooed.
• either bumps (granulomas) or scarring (keloids) can occur around the area of the tattoo.
• bacterial infections that can lead to blood infections, pneumonia and/or painful, flesh-destroying condition that is called necrotizing fasciitis.
• the dyes can cause an allergic reaction, which may happen years later.
• if you have to go to hospital for an MRI scan, sometimes (rarely) the tattooed area may burn or swell.

As I said these are relatively rare but precautions including choosing a top-notch tattoo artist, I would have thought were essential as one's health is involved for the sake of decoration.

 

Murderous moggies: should we be locking up our cats at night?

From time to time, on a regular basis, there are calls to restrict the movements of domestic cats in order to protect wildlife specifically birds and in this instance bats. So, the call is for a night-time curfew for domestic cats. The first point to make is that we don't know how many bats are killed by domestic cats at night. I strongly suspect that it is very few indeed. But it might depend where the cat lives. In the UK we just don't see bats flying around at night but perhaps I'm being too casual about it. On a more important point, bats are more likely to be carriers of rabies in the US, for example. This is not an issue in the UK. However, this must be a factor for keeping cats inside at night. 

Where a cat wants to be at night despite the rain. Image in the public domain.

And with respect to birds, I recently wrote about an RSPB statement that there is no scientific support that domestic cats threaten bird populations in the UK and I would suspect the same applies to other countries. Of course, domestic cats attack, kill and sometimes eat birds but the RSPB states that most often these are injured, infirm, and elderly and dying birds in any case. And therefore, the cat's impact on the bird population is lessened.

Impracticality

But here's the deal: the biggest factor in my view for the failure of a night-time curfew is that I don't think it is practical. This is the scenario: you let your cat go outside for 10 years as an indoor/outdoor cat. His behaviour is deeply entrenched. He goes out at night, every night and he sleeps throughout a part of the day.

You're going to have to put a barrier across the cat flap. Suddenly your beloved cat will be confronted with a barrier across his exit to the outside where all that excitement lies. And he's going to be thoroughly confused, bemused and ultimately pissed off. The problem is that he is going to be bashing at that closed cat flap. He is going to be head-butting it, clawing at it and bashing it with all his might in order to get outside.

He is going to be creating a lot of noise and quite possibly damage to the cat flap. And if he doesn't damage the cat flap the noise will wake you up. Then he'll start wandering around the house meowing and howling. He may well jump up onto your bed and wake you up. He wants attention. He is asking you why he has been kept inside.

You try and get back to sleep. He wanders around the house some more and head-butts the cat flap again. He settles down by the cat flap and snoozes because he has failed to get out. He stays there in the expectation that things might change.

Because he hasn't got outside during the night, he is more restless during the day and he tries to get outside again and finds the cat flap open. But he has to snooze and therefore, exhausted from the previous night's escapades he goes to sleep.

The next night he does the same thing all over again. Any persistently does this but day after day. This is because of his deeply ingrained habit of going outside at night. It is also because his natural body clock, his circadian rhythm, and his instincts drive him to hunt at night. It is almost impossible to train out of a cat's psyche these basic instincts. Domestic cats as you know are crepuscular: dusk and dawn hunters.

Eventually, though, he will admit defeat but I don't think there are many cat owners who could put up with the hassle of it all.

If you have a young cat who has always been a full-time indoor cat, it is obviously a different matter. They don't expect to go outside. There are no routines. However, for these cats there is a problem because very few cat owners enrich their cat's environment. It remains a human environment and therefore, in my honest opinion, they are doing their cat a disservice.

I know for a fact that if I tried to keep my cat inside at night, there would be mayhem. I know for a fact that it would simply prove to be impossible. He would make me miserable. So, I wouldn't try to do it.

And let's be honest again; your typical cat owner keeps their cat inside to protect their cat. They do not keep their cat inside to protect wildlife. People who allow their cat to go outside believe that they have to accept the predation of wildlife by their companion animal. They believe that it is part of the natural world. They don't like it but they feel that they have to accept it because to confine their cat is to prevent their natural instincts and desires flourishing which in turn will lead to a less than content companion animal. Good cat owners want to do all they can to ensure that their companion is content.

Enforceability?

Nighttime curfews are an idea that is probably impractical for the reaons stated and in any case how the hell can you enforce it?! Impossible. You'd need a hugely enlarged police force or some sort of animal control task force. It is just not going to work.

Cat video entertains at the expense of the cat's welfare

This is a mildly abusive cat video as far as I am concerned. Why was it made? Was it made to illustrate good cat caregiving and a way of improving a cat's health and welfare or was the video made to try and achieve a high hitting TikTok video? I think it is the latter and if I am correct, I am tired of seeing these sorts of videos where domestic cats are ostensibly abused by putting them through something which they don't need to go through in order to try and make a high-hitting and successful video on TikTok. 

TikTok - supporting animal cruelty.

Mildly abusive cat video.

In any case, this is an incredibly boring video except that the cat looks very cute and attractive. But the owner is putting their cat through an unpleasant experience in the interest of trying to be a successful TikTok creator. Why is she is bathing her cat who looks in rude health? Cats should not be bathed unless for a specific health reason.

I am being boring but I don't think cats should have to be mildly abused to entertain people. It's remarkable that so many videos on social media involving cats concern the mild abuse of the cat to entertain. Something is wrong.

I will tell you what is wrong. It is cat owners prioritising making money or their success in other ways over the welfare of their cat. They are prepared to mildly undermine the welfare of the cat to promote their personal interest. This is the exact opposite to what a cat caregiver should be doing. Cat caregiving should be an altruistic activity. They should be giving to their cat unconditionally because it provides them with pleasure. And in return they have the wonderful companionship of their cat.

Note: You'll have to click on the play button twice (maybe) to get it to play😎.

It is disappointing that social media administrators and owners disregard entirely videos which are mildly abusive of animals. And it is almost impossible these days to get administrators to remove videos which demonstrate clear animal abuse. 

The video on this page is not animal abuse in the normal way. It's just mild abuse because it goes against their welfare but there are far worse videos on social media which are never removed. 

Social media has a lot to answer for. They are often unaccountable. They are irresponsible. I am gradually losing interest in social media. The truth is they are unable to manage these large websites such as YouTube and Facebook because there is so much material uploaded that it is impossible to monitor it.