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Sip on a latte or some peppermint tea, scarf down a sweet treat, people watch, do some work on your laptop, sketch a fellow patron. These are things people typically do when they frequent a café, right? Thanks to the growing surge of animal cafés, you can now add petting and playing with an animal to that list.
Japan dominates the animal café market, but they exist in other countries like Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and the UK, to name a few. And the U.S. recently opened its first dog café in Los Angeles. Most cafés are home to one type of animal in particular, but others house a range of different animals. Part petting zoo, part social gathering, these cafés are the perfect hang-out spot for animal lovers. Many of them came into existence during the ’90s because property owners did not allow pets. For a small fee, these cafés will give you the experience of bonding with creatures you don’t often get to see in your daily life. Here are some of the animals you can encounter at various cafés throughout the world.
Owls
When did owls become such a hoot? Could this be a Harry Potter hat tip?
Since owls aren’t exactly domesticated animals, many cafés supervise your one-on-one time with the large-eyed birds.
Snakes
Though snakes in a café might sound like the sequel to Snakes on a Plane, fear not. Non-venomous snakes slither and slide at Tokyo’s Snake Center. If you want to pet them, that will cost you extra, of course.
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Rabbits
Rabbits are considered to be cute little animals, and you can play with these adorable little furry animals for as long as you like at a number of cafés in Tokyo in particular. Some cafés like Ra.a.g.f in Harajuku allow you to feed the rabbits as well.
Dogs
With the goal of finding abandoned dogs loving homes, L.A.-based The Dog Café offers people 55-minute sessions with a dog of their choosing. Admission is $10 per person and a variety of coffee, tea and lemonade are complimentary with entrance to their dog lounge.
Cats
New York’s first cat café, aptly named Meow Parlour, is a fave with feline lovers. And all of their cats are adoptable.
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Goats
Goats are definitely not the kind of animals you would expect to see at an animal café. But then again, they are one of the earliest animals that were domesticated by humans so, go figure.
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All Kinds Of Birds
Owls have their own cafés but they can’t have all the fun. You can interact with smaller, more exotic birds like parakeets and cockatoos, too!
