The growing trend of pet cafes tends to be more lucrative and gets business owners to get a little bit competitive and try to bring new 'pets'--this time with owls. Perhaps the craze started with Harry Potter or the birds are just simply that adorable and which is why café owners are opening up owl cafes.
At Akiba Fukurou you can have your interaction with an owl for Y1,500 or roughly $12. The "café" is not much of a café since they don't offer coffee. But what they provide is animal therapy for those who are tired.
With 25 owls around the space, people flocked to the area waiting for their turn to pet and hold the bird. Other than Akiba, Tokyo sees Ikefukurou Café, Fukuro no Ouchi and Forest of Owl among many others.
How many animal cafes are there in Japan? Close to a hundred? But there are at least 22 bird-focused cafes for the public. As of writing, there are 11 owl cafes in the country and most of them are centered in Japan's capital.
Animal cruelty? According to The Guardian, PETA issued a statement saying, "It's cruel to deny wild animals the opportunity to fulfill their basic behavioral needs by intensively confining them and exposing them to constant human harassment."
Online petition Change.org has people crying to stop these cafes. "The Japanese owl cafe (Fukuro No Mise). These birds belong in the wild. The way these people treat them is disgusting. They're not meant for entertainment. I just want this cafe shut down and the owls set free," appealed by a certain Johnson in New Zealand when she visited on café in Japan.
The Guardian also noted that these animal attractions do not offer advance conservation of the species. In its article, they say that animal experts confess that owl cafes may bring about appreciation for the birds but will likely have them want to buy pet owls than raise awareness to their well-being.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
