A New York City cat cafe will launch a bi-monthly movie night starting this Friday for feline lovers who want to cuddle while they watch.
Koneko is already known for its population of 16 cats, but the new film series offers a guaranteed “cat in your lap” as part of the ticket price.
“Vintage and sort of cat-related” films will be featured starting with Breakfast at Tiffany's this week.
Movie goers will also get to meet the cafe’s most famous feline, Orangey, who won two animal acting awards called the Patsy, the cat equivalent of the Oscars.
Tickets are a hefty US$30, but it comes with popcorn, complimentary drink, and the aforementioned furry seat mate.
Koneko opened on the city’s Lower East Side last year and surprisingly is Manhattan’s second cat cafe.
Most of the cafe’s cats are adoptable since they come from a local shelter.
Tens of thousands stray and feral cats reportedly roam the mean streets of New York with more than 20,000 brought into shelters last year, according to the NY Daily News.
Mayor Bill de Blasio introduced an initiative to decrease the stray and feral population, so the city didn’t have to kill so many healthy cats.
Under the initiative, stray or feral cats that are caught are neutered and then returned to their place of habitat. Tame cats are brought to shelters to go through the adoption process.
In 2015, the “Live Release Rate”, which includes adoptions, transfers, and returns to owners, was 80 percent, according to Animal Alliance NYC.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) spokesperson Teresa Chagrin criticized the initiative because it would fund groups and individuals who partake in “neutering and re-abandoning homeless cats to fend for themselves on the streets".
“Having witnessed firsthand the gruesome things that can happen to feral cats and to the animals they prey on, PETA cannot in good conscience oppose euthanasia as a humane alternative to dealing with cat overpopulation.” PETA said in a statement.
The Humane Society says about 2.4 million healthy and adoptable cats and dogs are killed in US shelters per year, one every 13 seconds.
The Price is Right game show host and animal rights activist Bob Barker reminded viewers for decades to spay and neuter their pets, a tradition carried on by his replacement Drew Carey.