Call it Christmas for the cat-crazed among us (myself included), National Cat Day is a real thing. Started in 2005 by animal welfare activist Colleen Paige, the (not federal- but should be) holiday is held to revere our fabulous furry friends and raise awareness about the homeless pet epidemic.
This year, joining your crazy cat lady aunt, startup company Uber partook in the feline fiesta.
Uber is a fast growing, app-based alternative to taxi cabs. Users need only download the Uber app to their smartphones to request a car- which will be a sleek and stylish black sedan or SUV. For a few quick hours on National Cat Day, held October 29, however, Uber offered one more service- kitten delivery.
For only $20, Uber would come to your door with a kitten in tow. The kitten could be loved on for 15 minutes, because nothing makes a day better than kitten cuddles. Except for maybe kitten cuddles and cupcakes. The smart startup is one step ahead of the game, also including a couple of cupcakes in the kitten-kaboodle package.
Some critics of the kitten delivery service said the publicity stunt was cruel, as it might be frightening to haul a kitten around from house to house, person to person all day. However, Uber attempted to sooth the nay-sayers by announcing they will be donating all profits made from the service to three shelters in the cities the kitten delivery was offered- Seattle, San Francisco, and New York. More, the delivery kittens were not merely getting their 15 minutes of fame; the kittens were potentially getting new homes. All delivery service purr-ticipants were available for immediate adoption.
Although the total amounts donated to each shelter have yet to be released, Uber knows how to make money. Founded in 2009, the new company is already worth an estimated $3.4 billion.
Happy Cat Day!
Reference-
Pepitone, Julianne. "Uber Is Delivering Kittens for National Cat Day." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/29/technology/uber-kittens/>.
I am a sucker when it comes to animals and plows to get them adopted. I think it came up in class before, but that Sarah Mclachlan commercial, man.. always gets me .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc (just in case you want to torcher yourself).
ReplyDeleteI see the potential aspect of the cats being freaked out, but the end results I think outway the alternative. I think if a cat could reason the pros and cons, it would probably want to be carted around in the basket and play with random strangers rather than sit in a cage and wait for someone to come by and take pity.
The problem in the states, I think, is that because we don't have problems with strays like other developing nations do, we end up suffering from an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. I think it's essential that campaigns get creative, and insert themselves into peoples daily routines sometimes to refresh our awareness.
As a side note, kind of related, since living overseas I became interested with how different countries address issues of pets, strays and feral animals. In my Peace Corps service, animals just ran around the streets. Life expectancy was not long. Animals that were kept as pets were not allowed in-doors as they were seen as dirty. Puppies were often taken from mothers only after 2 or 3 weeks, coddled over for a few months then left on a chain in the front yard. To be honest, and it might sound strange, but this was the toughest thing I had to deal with mentally and emotionally. To remedy the issue, a fellow volunteer and I attempted to start a dog-training show, as we realized people really didn't know how to properly care for animals (we were ridiculed by a veteranarian for giving our training-village dog a bath as that was the 'reason' he got food poisoning 14 months later). There was little interest though, so we stuck to community education.
In fact, that dog I mentioned from our training village was about to be abandoned when we had to leave and go to our official sites. Over those three months prior though, it would follow my friends (a married couple) to our language class every morning. I spent every break teaching it tricks and basic obedience (no jumping, begging, barking). A week before we left, I went to visit these friends of mine and have dinner with their host family. The host mom and dad just happened to be outside when I came up, and this dog trotted over to me. He and I did our little routine, and the host mom and dad were absolutely shocked at how 'clever' the dog was. At dinner that night they made a toast announcing they would keep the dog. He has been a favorite in the community ever since.
My last impression was when I was in Istanbul. There, they had been addressing the stray problem by routinely going out every 5-6 months and spaying/neutering all the animals. They would also tag them and give them regular check-ups and provide any medicine needed. It was against their islamic tenant to cause any harm to the creatures, but knew that something had to be done. It was obviously a work in progress, but they estimated the stray problem would be solved in about 10 years. I have to say, I've never seen strays treated so well. Nor have a seen a policy towards them as humane as there.