Cat Abuse: Now Available on Your iPhone

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2010-09-05 07:00:00 -0700
Topics:

There are a lot of animal-friendly apps out there ... this is not one of them.

Talking Tom Cat is among the latest in iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps. Apple says "Tom is your pet cat that responds to your touch." By "touch," they mean petting the kitty, and poking him, pulling his tail and beating him unconscious.

You can find your very own cartoon cat to abuse filed under Entertainment Apps because, according to Apple, "he is especially fun for children of all ages." The Animal Welfare Institute points out that even though Tom is just a cartoon, this is where cruelty can start. Perhaps more importantly, who in the world would want to encourage this behavior?

It's surprising that Talking Tom Cat is even available for download on iTunes when just a couple months ago, Apple nixed iSealClub, a virtual seal-clubbing game, from their app store.

The developer of iSealClub felt that Apple was inconsistent in rejecting his game while allowing other hunting games where it's perfectly okay to kill turkeys and deer. Maybe seal clubbing didn't make the cut because it doesn't enjoy the same acceptance by the general public as so-called "game" hunting, or maybe it's because Apple is an American company and the U.S. officially opposes the Canadian seal hunt. Those same factors apply to cat abuse: it's both illegal and found highly unamusing by the general public.

If abusing cats on an iPhone is your kid's idea of "especially fun," he needs to get outside more often, maybe volunteer at an animal shelter and see a therapist. After all, the FBI identifies violence toward animals as one of the juvenile behaviors associated with increasingly violent behavior throughout life. Video game violence may seem harmless since pixels can't feel pain, but billing animal abuse as "fun" trivializes the real deal for players of any age.

Cat cruelty? There really shouldn't be an app for that. Ask Apple to stop promoting animal abuse.

Image credit: YouTube

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.

RELATED PETITION

Apple iPhone App Featuring Animal Abuse
SIGN PETITION
1,391 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
Drunk Baboons Raise Hell in Cape Town
NEXT STORY:
Petitions Delivered Around the World for Release of Indonesian Circus Dolphins

COMMENTS (64)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.