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Bonsai Kitten

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Bonsai Kitten
Type of site
Former satirical website
OwnerDr. Michael Wong Chang
Created byDr. Michael Wong Chang
URLhttp://www.BonsaiKitten.com
CommercialNo
RegistrationNone needed
Japanese White Pine, 1625-2001 (similar effects were said by the website to be achievable in kittens).

Bonsai Kitten was a satirical website which purportedly contained instructions on how to grow a kitten in a jar, so as to mold the bones of the kitten into the shape of the jar as the cat grew. It was made by a MIT university student going by the alias of Dr. Michael Wong Chang. The website generated furor after members of the public complained to animal rights organizations, who stated that "whilst the sites content may be faked, the issue it is campaigning for may create violence towards animals", according to the Michigan Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA). Although the website in its most recent form was shut down, it still generates (primarily spam) petitions to shut the site down or complain to its ISP. The website has been thoroughly debunked by Snopes.com and the Humane Society of the United States, among other prominent organizations.

BonsaiKitten.com is mirrored by many sites today, for example rotten.com and ding.com. The nature of the site is such that BonsaiKitten.com was put forward as real, with many animal rights activists still taking issue with the context of the website. Reportedly, petitions for removal of the BonsaiKitten.com web address are more widespread in foreign countries, where English is spoken as a second language, and therefore, people may only see the content of the website's photos, which, in its most up-to-date format, consists of several photographs of a kitten inside of a jar.

Start of the website

On October 30, 2000, BonsaiKitten.com was a focal "Cruel Site of the Day" on the website Cruel.com. When this attracted complaints, Cruel.com removed its links to BonsaiKitten.com. Afterwards, however, when links to the BonsaiKitten.com website then spread across the world, many concerned animal lovers sent complaints to the Humane Society of the United States. The Humane Society made a statement that Bonsai Kittens were not real. The URL drew criticism, which caused the initial host MIT to remove it.[1]

Description of the spoof

Square watermelon. The square watermelon was later said by Dr. Chang, to be influential in the creation of BonsaiKitten.com, as a concept. (Square watermelons are grown in jars so as to form a square shape).

BonsaiKitten.com's pictures are the source of its controversy. They show kittens in jars, presented as real examples of the "lost art" as described on the Bonsai Kitten webpage. The pictures of the kittens are, of course, naturally created, because a very young cat has supple bones, and can fit into tiny spaces with only a small amount of encouragement. The spoof, according to "Dr. Chang" is that the world increasingly sees nature as a commodity, so such a site may well be in demand. The spoof came to large-scale attention as The Cruel Site of the Day for Dec. 22, 2000, and was continually heavily condemned by most animal rights organizations, and after hundreds of people complained daily to them, they stated that even if Bonsai Kitten was a spoof it "encourages animal cruelty".[2][3][4]

The webpage being featured on the cruel.com website was significantly controversial and it was quickly removed. Initial humane society statements decrying the website as "encouraging abuse" caused local investigation, along with an FBI announcement that it was to investigate the hoax. The prosecution of the site by the FBI was welcomed by animal activists, but decried by web authorities. The FBI backed up it's investigating of Bonsai Kitten by using a law passed by Bill Clinton in 1999. The attacking of the BonsaiKitten.com website had the effect of displacing the website, which found a new ISP two more times, before being permanently placed on Rotten.com software. Because the website is still kept on some mirrors, it continues to receive complaints from animal activists.[5][6][7]

The furor over the site triggered by animal rights organizations has been off-set by their continued statements that the site itself is a fake. They have been stating this since 2001.[8][9]

Controversy post-2000

Since 2000, the Humane Society of the United States has received hundreds of complaints. The Humane Society decried the site as fake but stated they did believe it was potentially harmful. Other animal rights groups have stated that the site creates an atmosphere of cruelty to animals. However, there is no evidence that the site is anything more than satire, at the present time. Numerous authorities have decried it as such and advised people to stop sending complaint forms via email.

Bonsai Kitten has been further up-dated from other servers, but infrequently and slowly, with recent additions to the site being research indicating that kitty litter causes brain damage. The website states that this enhances the Bonsai Kitten art-form's practical value.[10][11]

History of the controversy

The controversy started soon after the creation of the BonsaiKitten.com website.[12] It has continued since and has been a mutually accepted target of numerous spam email pleas. These pleas rely on the audiences, often not knowing English, to spread them.[10] Consequently, these petitions are often spread via the Internet in non-English-speaking countries.[10] Blues News also provided a link, afterwards which was shortly removed from the site, as complaints against the website's existence and its content began to surface.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ Mcculagh Declan. 2001-02-09. FBI Goes After BonsaiKitten.com. Wired. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  2. ^ Jacobson Jennifer 2001-01-21. Created at MIT, a 'Bonsai Kitten' Website Stirs Animal Lovers' Passions. The Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
  3. ^ Mcculagh Declan. 2001-02-09. FBI goes after BonsaiKitten.com. Wired. Retrieved 2010-10-30.Salkowski Joe. (2001)
  4. ^ Salkowski Joe. 2001-02-19. Animal Lovers Aren't Laughing at kitty-cotorting web spoof Dispatches Ground Zero. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
  5. ^ Fuoco Linda. 2001-08-08. Pet Tales. Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  6. ^ Brown Janelle. (2001). The Internet's Public Enema No.1. Salon. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  7. ^ Smith Andrew. (2001). FBI goes Bonsai Kitten hunting. The Register. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  8. ^ Theo Emery. 2001-02-22. Animal Lovers Not Laughing at about joke Internet site "Bonsai Kitten". Associated Press. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  9. ^ Brown Janelle. 2001-03-05. The Internets Public Enema No. 1. Salon. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  10. ^ a b c Bonsai Kitten. http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/bonsai.asp. Snopes. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  11. ^ Smith Andrew. 2001-02-10. FBI goes Bonsai Kitten hunting. The Register. 2010-11-04.
  12. ^ Smith Andrew. 2001-02-10. FBI goes Bonsai Kitten hunting. The Register. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  13. ^ Smith Andrew. 2001-01-26. Bonsai Kitten craze sweeps online world. The Register. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
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