On January 22, 2009, a story went out on the internet via various news agencies and sites, reporting on a criminal case in Pennsylvania. An Allentown woman named Holly Crawford was charged that week with three misdemeanor accounts of animal cruelty because she performed body piercing on three cats and then marketed them as "gothic kittens."
The case actually has been in progress since December 2008, when Crawford's home was raided and the kittens were seized by animal control officers from the local SPCA who went to the residence after receiving a tip from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). The cats were strays that Crawford had adopted just for the purpose of piercing and then reselling. None of the news articles list a specific price quote, but they do state the pets were being marketed for "hundreds of dollars apiece."
Dog groomer Crawford has been defending her position, saying she didn't intend to do anything cruel and that she didn't see any difference between piercing a human and piercing a cat. It's that last statement that prosecutors are most likely going to focus on, as it's very clear that the difference between piercing a human and piercing a pet is that animals don't ask to be pierced and can't give informed consent. That's why minors can't get pierced without the approval of their parents or legal guardians.
BMEzine, the world's largest online body modification community has an entire online gallery of modified pets. At the top of the page they have a disclaimer:
NOTE: BME does not condone the torture and abuse of animals in any way (although we urge you to consider whether these pictures are any worse than torturing, killing, and eating an animal, or worse than cutting a dog's tail off for looks). These pictures are presented for documentary purposes only and WE DO NOT RECOMMEND OR SUGGEST PIERCING OR OTHERWISE MODIFYING ANIMALS IN ANY WAY!Really, the disclaimer is a waste of type, as the presence of such a large collection of photos showing all manner of pierced and tattooed pets is only going to encourage such behavior in humans. And these aren't just simple body mods either. Some of the people piercing their pets are using dermal punches to make very large holes in their cat's ears. The very first image on the page is also rather unfortunate: it's an advertisement for a product BMEzine sells called "no bleed" which is put on piercings after they are done to stop bleeding. This has got to the be one of the worst cases of subliminal encouragement you could imagine. It's quite surprising that PETA hasn't gone after them for displaying this content.
No matter how cute it might seem, doing body modifications on your pet is not a consensual act and the consequences aren't worth it. Holly Crawford is now facing multiple charges of cruelty and conspiracy, her community is turning against her and her dog-grooming business is ruined.
