The cat in the jar – what’s really about it?

Back in the early 2000s, it was claimed that a website called “Bonsai Kitten” was selling cats in jars. Apparently the cats were locked in glasses until they took the shape of the container. One of the many shots of these “cat glasses”

Fact check: cat in a jar
Fact check: cat in a jar

To allay the fears of all shocked Facebook users, here is the solution:

Luckily it's a HOAX!

Even a very old hoax. This “fun idea” has been floating around the internet for more than 18 years now. Back in 2000 there was a site called bonsaikitten.com, which is now inactive. Our colleagues at Snopes cleared up this strange practice back in 2011:

When it was running (the site is no longer active), the Bonsai Kitten web site was a joke, not an actual promotion for the making of bonsai kittens. Investigations by law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, determined no real cats were harmed in the creation of the pictures used on the Bonsai Kitten website. Signing a petition to shut down the Bonsai Kitten website will not prevent any kittens from being harmed, because no kittens were harmed in the first place.

Here it becomes clear that it was a “joke” by students at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Even the FBI examined the photos and found that, fortunately, no cats were being tortured.

Reference: Bonsai Kitten (Dec 2000) – The Museum of Hoaxes


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )