Animal Videos: The Dark Side of Cute Content
Summary of Research on harmful Pet Videos Online
This article discusses research published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science (Kühnöhl et al 2025) examining the potential harms to animals featured in popular videos on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Here’s a breakdown of the key findings:
* Critically important Harm: The study analyzed 162 popular videos of dogs and cats and found that over half (53%) put the animal at risk of injury, and 82% showed behavioral signs of stress.
* Types of Harmful Videos: The videos fell into four categories:
* Challenges affecting animal welfare (e.g., “slapping” the pet – 6.2%)
* Challenges affecting sensitive pets (provoking the pet)
* Fun and entertainment
* Anthropomorphism (pets in costumes – 6.2%)
* human Behavior: When humans were present,their actions included:
* Assault/harassment (33.8%)
* Provocation (27.6%)
* Frightening/scaring (16.6%)
* Signs of Stress: Observed stress signals in pets included:
* Dogs: Stressed facial expressions (wide eyes, ears back), displacement activities (looking away).
* Cats: Stressed facial expressions (wide eyes, ears back), dilated pupils.
* “Challenges” are Harmful: Popular “challenges” like “slap your dog’s butt” or “cats versus cucumber” were particularly problematic, with 85% posing a risk of injury and 50% causing pain.
* Breeding Concerns: The videos frequently featured animals bred for specific traits that compromise their health (“agony breeding”),such as brachycephalic (flat-faced) breeds and Scottish Fold cats with folded ears. Other impairments like docked tails and cropped ears were also observed.
the research highlights that seemingly harmless and entertaining animal videos online often involve hidden harms and stress for the animals involved. The authors suggest viewers should be more aware of these issues and reconsider how they interpret these videos.