Popular but Harmful - How Funny Pet Videos on Social Media Conceal Animal Suffering.

IF 1.1 3区农林科学 Q2 VETERINARY SCIENCES

Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science Pub Date : 2025-08-19 DOI:10.1080/10888705.2025.2546394

Alina Kühnöhl, Swetlana Herbrandt, Leia Betting, Nicole Kemper, Michaela Fels

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Abstract

Every day, thousands of humorous animal videos are uploaded on social media platforms. In this study, 162 pet videos intended to be funny from various social media platforms were analyzed for content related to poor animal welfare. The videos were analyzed regarding risk of injury for the animals, suspected pain, agony breeding characteristics and animal behavior indicating stress. The success of each video was assessed based on views, likes and shares. Stress reactions of the animals were observed in 82% of all videos, while risks of injury were found in 52% of the videos. Pain was assumed in 30% of cases, and 32% of the videos showed pets displaying agony breeding characteristics, such as brachycephaly. A total of 93.8% of all videos achieved the benchmark "views:account follower (exposure)" value of 0.14, classifying them as successful videos. This study showed that successful animal videos on social media are often related to poor animal welfare. The study emphasizes the importance of raising awareness among social media users about animal welfare issues and can be the starting point for necessary educational work.

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流行但有害——社交媒体上有趣的宠物视频如何掩盖动物的痛苦。

每天都有成千上万的幽默动物视频上传到社交媒体平台上。在这项研究中，研究人员分析了162个来自各种社交媒体平台的宠物视频，这些视频意在搞笑，其中包括与动物福利不良相关的内容。研究人员分析了这些视频对动物的伤害风险、疑似疼痛、痛苦繁殖特征和动物表现出的压力行为。每个视频的成功与否都是根据观看量、点赞量和分享量来评估的。82%的视频中观察到动物的应激反应，52%的视频中发现了动物受伤的风险。在30%的案例中，有疼痛的假设，32%的视频显示宠物表现出痛苦的繁殖特征，比如短头畸形。在所有视频中，93.8%的视频达到了基准的“观看量：关注者（曝光）”值0.14，被归类为成功视频。这项研究表明，社交媒体上成功的动物视频往往与糟糕的动物福利有关。这项研究强调了提高社交媒体用户对动物福利问题认识的重要性，可以作为必要教育工作的起点。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 农林科学-兽医学

CiteScore

3.90

自引率

6.70%

发文量

审稿时长

>36 weeks

期刊介绍： Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science (JAAWS) publishes articles on methods of experimentation, husbandry, and care that demonstrably enhance the welfare of nonhuman animals in various settings. For administrative purposes, manuscripts are categorized into the following four content areas: welfare issues arising in laboratory, farm, companion animal, and wildlife/zoo settings. Manuscripts of up to 7,000 words are accepted that present new empirical data or a reevaluation of available data, conceptual or theoretical analysis, or demonstrations relating to some issue of animal welfare science. JAAWS also publishes brief research reports of up to 3,500 words that consist of (1) pilot studies, (2) descriptions of innovative practices, (3) studies of interest to a particular region, or (4) studies done by scholars who are new to the field or new to academic publishing. In addition, JAAWS publishes book reviews and literature reviews by invitation only.