Bonsai Kittens

I got a chain e-mail today entitled "This is Fucked up!" from a fellow traveler I met in Budapest. The e-mail is as follows:

"FOR ANYONE WHO HAS ANY RESPECT FOR ANIMALS a site that we were able to shut last year has returned. We are trying to shut it down again!

A man in New York breeds and sells kittens that are called BONSAI CATS. That would sound cute if they weren't kittens, only days old, that were squeezed into tiny bottles after being given a tranquiliser, then kept there for the rest of their lives so they can be put on a mantelpiece to be poked and laughed at. The cats are fed through a straw and their faces struggle to reach up the neck of the bottle where there's a tiny airhole. They are treated like absolute shit. The skeleton of the kitten will take on the form of the bottle as the kitten grows. The cats never get the opportunity to move apart from the first few days they are alive with their mother. These 'ornaments' are sold cheaply and used as souvenirs. They are the latest trends in New York, China, Indonesia and New Zealand.

If you're still not convinced PLEASE LOOK ON http://www.bonsaikitten.com/Please help to stop this sickness. Spare a thought for them today. This petition needs 1000 names, so please put your one name on it! Copy the text into a new email and put your name on the bottom, then send it to everyone you know. If there are 1000 names on the list, please send it to..."

So I went to the site, and it's pretty funny. The idea, that is, not the practice. I don't believe this for a minute. This is even a better hoax than the BBC story of the Cambodian Midgets Fighting Lions. First, why would you use a shoehorn to get the cat into the bottle? Isn't the kitten on a muscle tranquilizer? Second, there is no mention of how much these cats cost. Third, the site proclaims that "if you take a week-old kitten and throw it to the floor, it will actually bounce! We do not recommend that you try this at home." What? Fourth, the site also explains the kitten's shape (i.e. bone structure) will conform to the shape any container it is in during its development. But I can't find any pictures to back this up. You would think that pictures of deformed kitten heads in the shape of a square would be the ultimate selling point for the sick and twisted.

The one thing I can't figure out is if the guestbook is fake or real. The pro-bonsai kitten letters look questionable. I mean, did a kindergarden teacher really say thank you for the creative teaching lesson in the classroom?

~ J-Dub