Is this animal media cute?

cute animal content is everywhere and something all of us love, but too often are videos or images shared without people realising they depict an animal in distress, discomfort, or poor living situation. it is with this blog we hope to bring more awareness regarding watching where your animal content comes from, alongside promoting actually cute content!

[is-the-pigeon-ok]

God bless @is-the-bug-video-cute for the compilation of similar animal media assessment blogs (I switched their blog with mine, because y'all are already here):

More blogs like this:

@isthisanimalmediacute || @is-the-cat-video-cute

@is-the-cow-video-bad || @is-the-fox-video-cute

@is-the-owl-vid-cute || @is-the-lizard-video-cute

@is-the-parrot-video-cute || @is-the-bug-video-cute

@is-the-primate-vid-cute || @is-the-rabbit-playing

@is-the-wolf-video-cute || @isthedogawolfdog

[isthisanimalmediacute]

hey all! i started this blog when informative blogs regarding animal media were far and few between and when i was a man with much more free time. nowadays there are plenty of lovely people with years of hands on knowledge and degrees to inform their ratings (i have special interests in husbandry and behaviour, but i dont study either!). forward requests to applicable blogs instead of me, ill probably ignore it!!

EDIT: Most of these blogs are still ok but do not trust the pigeon one who posted this. it is run by dani the-ramsey-loft who is being called out for neglectful and abusive practices with her birds. i will make my own pinned post at some point but i am so so busy also you can easily find a source for this claim on owlvids blog

[longhorned]

so those is-the-x-video-cute blogs are a plague on animal husbandry education. i get that they started well meaning - to prevent neglectful animal situations from being popularized as funny or cute - but in having a blog that is allegedly informative, random tumblr weirdos have decided they are the end-all be-all animal husbandry experts.

im gonna address is-the-rabbit-media-cute in their CONSTANT misinfo but this should be a great lesson as to why you shouldn’t assume someone who cannot prove any credibility at all on the internet is the god king of animal knowledge (or any knowledge).

1. these are their credentials

a rabbit owner with google. i mean people can lie and say they’re experts but they just straight up admitted to not knowing any more about rabbits than the next guy

2. consistently perpetuating things that at this point are well known to be myths, ie wire bottom cages & trancing. so many posts about wire bottoms being bad oh my god. including completely ignoring a response someone gave about why wire floors are Not bad.

>”trancing:” yes you can safely hold a rabbit belly up. this is a very safe way to sex rabbits and to do general health checks on their stomach and bottoms of their feet. no they are not having a heart attack.

>wire floors: excellent choices for rabbits! rabbits pee and poop A LOT. standing in that causes sore hocks. wire typically doesn’t. wire allows all their excrement to fall through so they aren’t standing in it. some rabbits, such as Rex, are more prone to having their feet irritated by wire - resting mats are standard to alleviate this easily. any rabbits that are particularly prone to sore hocks are culled so rabbits are not being bred prone to discomfort. basically, sore hocks can be easily eliminated. and on that note

3. straight up doesn’t know things about rabbits?

not correct! if all the rabbits you interact with are getting sore hocks you are doing something wrong!

pellets are a whole diet. they ARE the main source of food. in the same way as you buy dog food to be their primary food source.

a rabbit will fuck a rock, i have NO idea where “would always choose another wild rabbit” comes from. their ass i guess

4. this one is killing me. encouraged this person to harass their poor mom over her rabbit’s housing

this is a good setup! lots of space, plus an indoor area to hide, etc. bunny is living high. however rabbit-media said that since it’s outside, it is inherently abusive. this isn’t an outdoor cat situation; the animal is not left to fend for itself or devastate the ecosystem, it is in an enclosure. rabbits are very hardy. it has coverage from the rain, which is important, and rabbits’ fur protects them from very cold temps. the only thing to consider is if it gets very hot, the rabbit will need to be cooled down. still a perfectly good setup. and when the mom said this

completely valid point! rabbit-media responded with this

ok edge lord. this SLANDER. you are an internet rando, having followers doesnt make you credible?? alex jones has a whole SHOW with hundreds of thousands of viewers and makes a considerable difference in people’s perspectives, that doesn’t mean he isn’t spouting bullshit.

5. this was their response to a SIXTEEN year old asking for help with a matted rabbit after the kid said they do not have access to a rabbit groomer or vet.

besides the way they talk being hilariously juvenile and edgy (there is NO WAY they are over 19. i hope) YOU DARE??? anyway. what a great way to help a teen. the only problem was matting -which is bad, sure - but they weren’t beating the damn thing. they also called this kid “pure scum” but im at my image limit. great, now the kid will never ask for help again, which is sure to help their husbandry!

anyway tl;dr talks like an edgy teen, is a dick to people who want help, spreads outright lies and misinfo, every answer to an ask is like at least a little bit wrong

[bonefarm]

Reading through this entire Rabbit Media blog is my villain origin story.

So much bad info. @dirtpossum did a pretty good job. Putting aside the absolutely out of hand way they addressed a kid for the kids moms rabbit(?) which is not in a terrible setup tbh.

To hit the high points

- Wire isn’t bad and if every rabbit you’ve ever encountered has had sore hocks that speaks to terrible husbandry on you and your communities part, you should probably stop taking advice from them.

-pellets are basically extruded alfalfa or Timothy hay. They are absolutely not gummy vitamins. Theres maybe a conversation to be had about gut motility issues in young exclusively pellet fed rabbits.

-Small correction. If you live in North America your domestics are not going to produce viable offspring with our wild rabbits. Doesn’t mean they won’t try.

-I don’t think it’s in this write up but this blog also claims that rabbits are very cuddly with other rabbits. This is patently untrue. Rabbits can sometimes be bonded but if you toss two unknown rabbits in together they will fight and might maim or kill each other. They are not naturally cuddly and this is dangerous bad advice.

The amount of mean spirited weird-bad advice on that Media blog makes me furious, if we’re going to get in a dick measuring contest about followers to to prove who is more knowledgeable (!???) im guessing I have bad news for you….

[kingofdoma]

i feel like this is less about the blogs being A Bad Idea and more about letting random people with no background in animal care claim authority on the subject the "is the cat video cute" people have shared their qualifications and give good advice that stands up to scrutiny if someone says "yeah i own a rabbit i'm as good as someone with a veterinary medicine degree" then maybe don't trust them as the be-all end-all word on rabbit care? just saying

[hapalopus]

Also, just in general, don't take advice from people who can't handle being wrong.

[isthisanimalmediacute]

christ. i opened mine when there were next to no other blogs and have been wrong, hence why ive all but abandoned this blog in the wake of others showing up that DO know what theyre talking about. it is really not that hard to just take a step back if youre not an expert lmao

[antiqueanimals]

sorry but whats wrong with big floppa?

he’s fucking obese as hell dude

this is NOT a healthy animal & isn’t something to be laughed at / admired.

[zooophagous]

Oh my God that is the fattest cat I have EVER seen

[is-the-fox-video-cute]

These are what healthy caracals should look like btw;

[flourishingskeleton]

what’s wrong with everythingfox?

if you’ve been here for very long, you’ve probably noticed us making disdainful references to everythingfox! but why, you ask, do you guys dislike that blog so much?

everythingfox is a content aggregator. they repost videos without credit, often linking back to a reddit or imgur post that is itself a repost. often it takes me about five minutes to find the original source of a video, something they could also do if they really cared about sourcing videos properly! they do not.

they also uncritically post videos of animals in tons of situations that are unsafe or outright dangerous. they post wild animals being kept as pets in homes, interactions between predator and prey animals, interactions between humans and wild animals, staged videos that are borderline abuse, videos that actually are abuse, and sometimes adorable animals being adorable with no problems. lots of people are unable to pick the bad videos out from the good, which means they may be consuming content they don’t realize is actually harmful to animals.

now, it’s the internet, we all make mistakes and sometimes post something we didn’t realize was harmful. however, when harmful posts are pointed out, the person running the blog becomes defensive and doubles down. they do not take responsibility for the content they promote.

i genuinely believe it’s possible to run an ethical blog for posting cute animal content. it just takes effort. you have to credit your sources, use some critical skills when selecting videos/pictures, and be able to accept corrections. everythingfox’s creator does not seem at all interested in trying to abide by these tenets.

[thenatsdorf]

More boops!

[sadisticsunshine]

@is-the-cat-video-cute sticking your fingers in a lions mouth seems kind of…. Idk really stupid dangerous.

[flourishingskeleton]

lol yeah we don’t do big cats but i can confirm that you should absolutely 100% not touch big cats or bears in the face. extremely poor life choice.

(this video is by a “zookeeper” at single vision animal sanctuary, and i put zookeeper in quotes because i am mean but also because i don’t think an accredited zoo would actually let a keeper interact with animals like this. the original instagram account, samanthaidek/safarisammie, posts tons of unsafe interactions with big cats. also single vision has a… bad track record (warning for animal abuse and death). so yeah. if you see a facility that allows people to interact with wild animals like this, chances are good they are shady as heck.)

[warcrimesimulator]

Really weird to see people claiming that the is-the-x-video-cute blogs are run by complete randos LARPing as experts on the internet, as if you need a degree to inform people that the viral video of the German Shepherd picking up a small kitten by its head is, in fact, dangerous.

Not all of these blogs are good, I do understand- that's ultimately going to come along with the trend-ification of these types of blogs. But a lot of the big ones are run by people who are absolutely experienced or qualified enough to be running a simple "is this cute?" blog. It's not like they're out here giving medical advice.

Some of you guys are really hostile to the idea of being critical about animal content you consume on the internet huh.

[warcrimesimulator]

And it's not like these blogs are unnecessary. Believe it or not, most people still aren't aware that a dog "smiling" is actually uncomfortable. Most people don't actually know that you're endangering your pet lizard by letting your cat lick it. Most people don't know that foxes, owls, etc. make horrible pets and the average person would never be able to keep these animals ethically. Most people don't realize there's a problem with outdoor cats, declawing, dominance-based dog training, rack keeping snakes, feeding or touching wildlife, etc.

That everythingf*x blog posted a video of a cat playing with a coyote and thousands of people reblogged it uncritically. I've seen Joe Exotic and Doc Antle videos of apes playing with tiger cubs on here with tens of thousands of notes (and the Youtube videos themselves have millions of views.) I lost count of how many times I've seen that toothless Russian brown bear being kept as a pet on my dashboard. And unfortunately a lot of unethical shit is normalized by the media as well and people are going to assume something is okay because they saw it on TV or on Buzzfeed or the Dodo.

Most people just do not know shit about animals, and it's easy for unethical animal media to be spread online as cute or funny content. There have always been outspoken individuals and dedicated blogs who try to educate people, but for the longest time it wasn't really socially acceptable and it was a great way to get yourself set up for harassment. The is-the-x-video-cute trend in the very least has helped normalize the concept of being critical of animal content you see online, even if these blogs aren't always perfect and even if there are a few of them run by unqualified randos.

[isthisanimalmediacute]

"Floppa" makes me so uncomfortable and the fact there's gonna be an offical plush of him? :/

im writing an essay rn i've been so busy with like art and commissions but i saw this in my askbox and yelled. I wish the owners a very GO TO JAIL

[o-kurwa]

[magicalgirlmindcrank]

My man was really gonna let a fucking BEAR into his house for the views and the BEAR had to be the sensible one here

[skweebs]

I love bears, they are my favorite animal and I'm delighted to see pictures and videos of them taken from safe and responsible distances in the bears natural habitat. However I absolutely hate videos like this so much. People need to stop with the attitude that bears are just big cuddly dogs and learn some healthy fear and respect for these animals. They are killing machines, everything about them makes them some of the world's most powerful apex predators.

That bear has 2 tags on its ears making it a problem bear and in most places with bear populations in North America its a 3 strikes you're out system. If that bear gets in any more trouble they will kill it, and the problem with problem bears is that they've learned where food is, they know how to get into houses, and they know how doorknobs work.

PURPOSEFULLY letting a bear into your home only increases the likelihood that: (1) you will be killed and the bear will be euthanized. (2) the bear will ransack your home and the bear will be euthanized. (3) the bear will try to enter other homes in your neighborhood and your neighbors could get killed and the bear will be euthanized.

-You see where I'm going with this. There are no good outcomes of humans purposefully interacting with bears, you will die or they will die.

This video isn't cute or funny it's reckless endangerment and I seriously hope the person who filmed this gets legal action taken against them, they are extremely lucky to be alive.

[great-tweets]

omggggg

[bisaster-energy]

that kitty really went

[yharnambimbo]

[asgardian-viking]

that kitty is watching Psycho

[isthisanimalmediacute]

this cats actually just tracking a toy off screen with audio on top, but its still a really cute video! :)

[scoutsmoocrew]

[shutyourmoustache]

“Bees in the washing machine” sounds like a horror scene waiting to happen.

[typhlonectes]

what a wonderful video with someone who really cares about bees.

[theradiowitch]

Just before I start I just wanted to let y’all know that this information is the latest I have if anything new has happed in the last month or two I don’t know about it. If this is the case please add on to this post.

For anyone who don’t know this is why people don’t like this girl. While she does promote “saving the bees” which is great she’s not an actual be removal specialist she’s just bee keeper. She also promoting the idea to her followers that bees will never hurt you and that they are completely harmless. Which is obviously not true. She works in Texas and the type of bees she is working with are africanized bees (killer bees) which are some on the most dangerous bees out there. She doesn’t wear any sort of protection and most of her videos are staged. She’ll get her husband to do most of the actual removal work and the only thing she does do is what you see in the videos.

Many bee removal specialist have called her out on her unsafe techniques like not wearing a suit to properly protect herself. She only recently started to show herself smoking the bees before she mess with them. When the specialist did call her out other people on the app attack the specialist and said thing like “you only hate her cause she’s pretty” and “she’s making people feel safe around bees and you’re just making them afraid of them”.

With that with all her talk about saving the bees she doesn’t actually do anything to do that. Honey bees are actually an invasive species in America that often kill native bees that are necessary to our ecosystem. She doesn’t give any information about other types of bees or about how she helps them. I don’t think she’s even mentioned that the honeybees she’s saving are a big part of the declining bee population problem. So the “another day of saving the bees” line is really just for the good look.

Personally I couldn’t care less about wether or not her videos are staged but she is unconsciously promoting a level of carelessness around bees. People need to be cautious around bees because even if your not allergic to them if enough of them sting you you can get sick. 

[shutyourmoustache]

Well damn. That’s disappointing. I knew some people were spooked about her not wearing protective gear, but I figured she was a pro and would know when protective was required or not. For anyone who wants to read more on this situation, here you go.

[vulpesmellifera]

As a former beekeeper and as an enthusiast of native bees, I cringe every time I see one of this girl’s videos.

[bro-this-is-a-blogging-website]

you people do realize that unprotected bee moving is like. an actual cultivated skillset thats been around for centuries right. records dating back to the middle fucking ages talk about people whos entire job is ‘knows how to pick up swarms without getting hurt and puts them in the bee bucket’ like just bc yall dont know how to fucking do nor want to know it doesnt mean its some sort of ‘promoting of carelessness’ like girl what. what on earth are yall on. are we really going back to the ‘well what if some dumbass copies you jumping off a building, professional pakourist!! then what!!!!’ type mindset. yall are ADULTS not children. “ She doesn’t give any information about other types of bees or about how she helps them.” she literally promotes native bee protections?? shes talked about this. at length. shes also had to deal with mf calling her a trump supporter with no evidence in spite of the fact shes said multiple times she hates the bastard. if yall arent going to to the barest bones of research shut the fuck up??? its EVEN IN THE ARTICLE ONE OF YALL FUCKING LINKED???  “I don’t think she’s even mentioned that the honeybees she’s saving are a big part of the declining bee population problem.” this just in!!  moving pest bees to more productive areas, like the people who got the bees from my mothers yard due to her allergy, are Bad Actually, because they’re not just straight up killing them and dumping 30 pounds of native bees there instead!! i am very intelligent!

[mellifexfarm]

this post made me realize just how bad this site is about fact checking + dog-piling. why is everyone in the notes so ready to tear this woman to shreds over absolutely nothing. ive kept bees for a decade. she literally isnt doing anything wrong here lmfao

[everythingfox]

“My sister just got a new horse and I think he likes me”

(Source)

[isthisanimalmediacute]

although this is a comfortable horse (except jumping a little when its touched when it couldnt see the persons hand), im seeing conflicting information about the rubbing itself being either 1. affectionate nuzzling 2. dominance behaviour. if it was a way of asserting dominance then this video isnt terrible, but its not something to be encouraged, even with a smaller horf like this one. sharing in the hopes more horse savvy folk could weigh in :)

[toga-vibes]

Hey, I’m a horse savvy folk! So first off, dominance behavior doesn’t really exist in horses. A lot of people will tell you that rubbing their head on you is a dominance behavior, but first off horses don’t really interact with each other in that way, and second, they definitely don’t see us as other horses. The rubbing here is most likely just because he’s itchy and can’t really itch himself without rubbing. This horse was already getting scratched under his chin, and was probably like “no, human, I’m itchy HERE.” He’s also has already learned that itchies come from humans and is just testing the boundaries of how much he can do.

This is a potentially dangerous behavior, just from the fact that most horses’ heads are bigger than your torso and they can easily knock you down, but you can easily train them to wait to be scratched on their face using positive reinforcement, or even negative reinforcement (I had to do that with my horse, where I withheld scratches until he stopped pushing into me. He pushed me against a splintered wall once and that was not fun 😂). The other side to this is if you don’t scratch them, they’re going to find something else to scratch on and that opens up the possibility of damage to your barn or injury to your horse if they scratch on a wooden fence or something.

Tl;dr: horses are not dominant, this is just an itchy boi using the nearest available scratching post.

[scoutsmoocrew]

Friends

[isthisanimalmediacute]

so sorry to all the new media blogs popping up and putting me in their posts about similar blogs as if i didnt make this blog, make one banger post about floppa, and then fall into the abyss

[everythingfox]

“My sister just got a new horse and I think he likes me”

(Source)

[isthisanimalmediacute]

although this is a comfortable horse (except jumping a little when its touched when it couldnt see the persons hand), im seeing conflicting information about the rubbing itself being either 1. affectionate nuzzling 2. dominance behaviour. if it was a way of asserting dominance then this video isnt terrible, but its not something to be encouraged, even with a smaller horf like this one. sharing in the hopes more horse savvy folk could weigh in :)

[cosmonautroger]

[everythingfox]

Trash panda loves cat

[isthisanimalmediacute]

overweight raccoon potentially being kept as a pet playing(?) roughly with an annoyed cat.... nope, nope, nope, nope