Exotic animal cafes: cute trend or welfare crisis?

By Samantha Ward, Professor of Zoo Animal Welfare & Legislation, Nottingham Trent University

Imagine sipping a latte while stroking an owl or watching an otter play at your feet. This is the promise of exotic animal cafes, a trend that blends coffee culture with wildlife encounters. But behind the Instagram-worthy photos lies a troubling reality – the welfare of the animals themselves.

Since the mid-2000s, animal cafes have increased in popularity with customers paying low-cost entrance fees, ranging from £8 to around £15, depending on the location and animals housed there. The concept seemed to have started with cat cafes but…

Read complete article

~	How misinformation may be fuelling teen vaping

~	America’s anti-European attitudes are centred on perceptions of military weakness and the decline of native populations

~	What does international law tell us about the US seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela?

~	Bread of Angels: Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir wrestles with ‘the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime’

~	Patients blocking A&E with minor ailments? Here’s what’s probably going on

~	Growing a mix of plants in fields can save farmers money and help the environment – new research

~	Unions have been in decline in the UK for 50 years. A new law could begin to reverse that trend

~	Visible for diversity, invisible in research: the burdens Black female academics face in universities

~	Why whole-life imprisonment is rising in England and Wales

~	Why does Netflix want to buy Warner Bros? To copy, not kill, traditional TV