“While the situation may not have been as dire as some people have made out, your decision still indicates a complete lack of compassion for the animals and your prioritisation of your own enjoyment and the promotion of your club over the welfare of these animals.
1. Your patrons were most likely intoxicated, even if you weren’t serving alcohol in the immediate vicinity of the animals.
2. The animals were subjected to an inordinate amount of stimuli (handling by the patrons, harsh flash photography, ambient noise from the surrounding nightlife), especially given the time of night. While they might be exposed to similar levels of stimuli at children’s parties, most kids don’t have parties at 7-9pm.
3. Some of the animals selected for the petting zoo was completely inappropriate given this level of stimuli. Rabbits and guinea pigs are incredibly anxious animals and become distressed at minor disturbances, it would have been far more appropriate to restrict the animals used to those larger animals that would better handle the environment. It’s unclear whose decision this would have been (yours or the business contracted to provide the animals) but once again it seems that the enjoyment of the patrons and photo opportunities were prioritised over the animals’ welfare.
4. Objections were raised before the event, and you did nothing to allay those fears. It’s only now that there has been significant backlash and damage to your image that you’re attempting to retrospectively justify the event. It is therefore inappropriate to criticise people for not “getting all the facts” when you deliberately neglected the opportunity to provide the facts before the event took place. If you had done so, the reaction to the event may have been very different.
5. The effectiveness of the supervision is questionable given the way that some of the animals in the photos are being handled. It definitely appears that photo opportunities were prioritised over the safe and appropriate care of these animals.
6. You have repeatedly emphasised the importance of maintaining civil discourse in relation to the club itself and its patrons, but have done nothing at all to address the disparaging remarks and irrelevant personal attacks by individuals defending your club. If you’re going to try and take the moral high ground and condemn inappropriate behaviour, it can’t be only when it is of personal benefit to yourselves
7. At some point you have to be mature and admit that you may have committed an error of judgement.
Tl;dr - your post does a lot to address many of the issues raised, but it was still a pretty poor judgement call to have a petting zoo at a club.”
- Comment on a statement made by Akuna Club in Subiaco, Western Australia regarding a recent publicity stunt they pulled by having a petting zoo at thier club night.
- Statement can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/akunaclub/posts/819565208137290?fref=nf&pnref=story
- Petition here: https://www.change.org/p/western-australia-revise-the-laws-relating-to-nightclubs-and-the-use-of-live-animals-in-promotions-and-events
I don’t normally make posts like this but please help this go viral!
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