Cross-post from the Pets forum - Please help with animal abuse on YouTube!

[Systematic Chaos]

Note to the mods: I realize that this is not really a political post, but it is way too grim for the Lounge and is a well-justified call for help in getting this hideous group of videos off of YouTube. I just want it to be seen by as many people as possible since I'm posting at 4:30 on a Sunday morning. If you feel it should be moved then I understand.



There is this son of a bitch on Youtube who has put up five different videos entitled "Don't Pet This Kitty!"

I was on there doing a search for talking cats, and from there I found some videos of "angry" cats. Most of these were short, 20 second videos of cats who were freaked by the presence of a video camera. They'd bat at the camera a couple times or maybe hiss and then run off.

The person I'm talking about (user name babylonsfalling) has these five videos up (at least), and in every one he's intentionally causing this poor little white cat to lose its mind. He's kicking at the cat, poking it, and putting his camera within inches of the cat's face. Each video is at least 30 seconds long. In one of them you can hear a woman in the background who says something in apparent protest but does nothing to stop this abuse.

Click the link to each video and then immediately pause it if you don't have the stomach for this. Below each video is a selection marked "Flag". When you click on that you can select Animal Abuse from a sub-menu. Please flag each of these five videos. If you have an account and can leave comments you can also make a suggestion that Youtube release the ISP of the person posting these to the appropriate authorities. At the end of the last video the poster has a title card which says "A Babylonsfalling Production". Maybe not enough to prove for sure that this is his cat, but at least it leaves little doubt that he is directly responsible for the videos.

My wife and I would both appreciate any help you can provide in - at least - getting these horrible videos off of Youtube. Thank you for your time. I'll also post this in GD because I think it's important enough to go there, and the mods can make their own decision about whether to remove that crosspost or not. Here are the five links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UBNBfJjbBE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Ys0J4rvFQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF88IYF2MHY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWwA3wv04OM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aqA9lvUQ2c



On edit - changed four to five in one sentence.

[eShirl]

1. k&r

:nuke:

[flvegan]

2. Ron Paul supporter and a slovenly douchebag to go with it.

What a shock.

[zanne]

3. Kicked and recommended.

I also flagged them. I see this kind of thing on Youtube from time to time. I hope it doesn't take those administrators too long to remove the videos. The cats should be removed from that home.

[lonestarnot]

13. Agree!

[madrchsod]

4. done

[KC]

5. Done !

nt

[lonestarnot]

6. Four more to go! Damn! Both my cats ran in to see what the hell!

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. LOL MY dog just ran out the door!

My kids said "Mom, quit that, you are freaking the dog out!"

[lonestarnot]

32. Did you read my post about the keyboard key?

Freaked me out! LOL

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. Yes I saw that

LOL

[lonestarnot]

7. Two more to go and I don't think I'm going to get through them, my cats are too pissed!

[lonestarnot]

8. I swear to God this just happened!

My white cat just ripped my side arrow button off the laptop keyboard. I had to turn off the sound. They both peed!

[IndyOp]

9. Done - I flagged all 5. Thank you for showing me how to do this...

I saw a video some months ago that looked to me like some guy scaring his girlfriend's cat for "laughs" -- it made me angry, but I didn't know about flagging inappropriate content. I do now.

Thank you.

[lonestarnot]

10. Shew done!

Please let us know if they are taken down. I can't go there any more! LOL Sheesh!

[Liberal Dose]

11. Just got done flagging all of them, which means they're all still there, dammit

:(

[alfredo]

12. The cat sees its reflection in the camera lens and thinks another cat

has invaded its space.

[leftchick]

14. do you have to be a member to flag it?

I can't seem to find the sub menu

[Cerridwen]

15. It looks like you do - I had to use my gmail account to log in then create a

username for YouTube.

BTW, to the OP, Gentle Giant, I flagged all 5. I hope it helps.

[Cerridwen]

16. The replies by some of the people there

truly ugly.

And done X 5.

[lonestarnot]

17. Damn things are still there.

[livvy]

18. Flagged all five, and left a comment or two.

What a cruel person. It is hard to understand why someone would find humor in scaring the crap out of their cat.

[Kajsa]

19. How do I alert on these without clicking on

the links?-

I kid you not- I can't stomach this crap for 1/100 th of a second.


I looked for a 'contact us' link through my Youtube account but couldn't find one.

I'd copy and paste the links and send it to them.

:shrug:

Friggin sick bastard!

Why isn't that wimp of a woman defending her cat?!?

[AZBlue]

20. k/r

I suggest that if they aren't removed in 24 hours, we start alerting PETA and the Humane Society to the issue - there are many videos like this on YouTube and that would be embarassing PR for them.

[Kajsa]

22. AZBlue, I tried calling the HSUS

but their main office in DC is closed.
Same thing with the SPCA.

Who can we contact on a Sunday?

You Tube is doing NOTHING!

[AZBlue]

45. I have a feeling we'll have to wait until Monday.

But I'm going to check back tomorrow (Mon.) and if they are still there I'm calling!

[Kajsa]

21. I just figured out how to pause each one so I

could flag each one of them.

Thanks for posting this.

Even though it is grim, the Lounge is full of cat lovers
who could help flag this damn thing.

Edit- I just cross linked it there.

[HuffleClaw]

24. "I'm ready for my close up!"

or should that be "I vant to be alone' ?

[libnnc]

25. here's what some asshole posted in the comments

I'm convinced that the people who post on youtube are soul-less freaks.

"There is some fuzzy-headed liberal on the hate site democratic underground that has taken offense to your cute videos! This moron calling himself Gentle Giant is calling your films animal abuse!!! Obviously this quasi-human with the burned out brain has never played with cats before. Beware the liberal crowd, they know not what they are talking about."

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Yeah I saw that

That isn't playing. What morans.

[EstimatedProphet]

43. I saw that too - typical Repub bully

They like to torment animals I've heard.

[Systematic Chaos]

48. Thanks for finding that. It was good for a guffaw!

My reply:

Why, hello there, zippe!

I would be the Gentle Giant to whom you are referring. My original handle there was also progrocker69 but I opted to change it in honor of one of my favorite bands.

At any rate, I will wear your "fuzzy-headed liberal" comment as a badge of honor. I really like the "quasi-human" descriptor as well. I suspect I've probably forgotten more than you'll ever know, so that's all good. I'll be sure to tell my four happy cats all about it. Tell the mothership I said hi!

Are there really that many people out there in the world who are little more than wasted DNA and airspace? The mind boggles....

Not sure whether to :rofl: or :grr:

[MilesColtrane]

27. Flagged.

Animal abusers often go on to become murders.

Look at Bush.

[ThatsMyBarack]

28. Cruelty to cats makes me so sad.

That's a beautiful kitty, too. :cry:

I've just finished flagging all that shit. :nuke:

I'm going to give my own kitty boys some extra-special love now. :hug:

[Alameda]

29. Done

thanks for bringing this to our attention. I love cats and hate any abuse of them. I flagged all five.
edited for spelling and addition of content

[whyzayker]

30. YouTube seems to be down

Anyone else having trouble getting on the site?

[ShadesOfGrey]

31. Yes...

I've been trying to flag these for about 15 minutes now. Will keep trying.

[lonestarnot]

34. ah shit! I thought they were just gone.

[lonestarnot]

33. Yeah! They're gone!

[ShadesOfGrey]

36. youtube back online now... flagged them - animal abuse.

[lonestarnot]

37. nugh ugh. yous tubes has busted a gut or swallowed a gerbil or something.

He no workie.

[ironflange]

38. ive flagged them all

the worst part of all this is the number of people who have favorited these

what a bunch of morans

[Kajsa]

39. THEY ARE STILL THERE!!!

What in the hell is wrong with the moderators/admins on YouTube?!?!

[lonestarnot]

41. The cat must have eaten them!

[Critters2]

40. The videos are still up. I've flagged all four of 'em.

Thanks for pointing this abuse out.

[Fox Mulder]

42. I flagged all five of them.

That person is one sick asshole. I was hoping the cat would claw his eyeballs out.

I can't believe those videos have been on there for over a year. It makes me sick.

[Kajsa]

44. Kick for

those who want to flag these.

They are still on YouTube!

[GoneOffShore]

46. Flagged all 5 but they are still there

Kicked for the kitties

[xchrom]

47. animal abuse is against the law.

i now don't blame the maker -- i blame youtube.

[Kajsa]

59. Exactly, Xchrom!

They allowed these clips on their site for over a year.

And They Are Still There!

I blame both the maker and YouTube.

YouTube's apathy is astounding.

[Systematic Chaos]

49. Thank you, everybody, for your help and support!

I knew I could count on at least a few of you to assist with this, but on behalf of that poor kitty and my own four I am really just touched beyond words by the response.

My life has never been quite the same since I found DU years ago. Even if the things I learn here are horribly depressing at times, I wouldn't trade my awareness and sense of belonging here for anything!!

:yourock::bounce::yourock:

[Systematic Chaos]

50. Kick for anyone who may have missed this.

I'm going to be looking for any kind of phone contact info for YouTube here in a minute.

If they can rush to take down videos to protect corporations' precious copyrights and "intellectual property" then they can address the obvious emotional abuse of a cat. :grr:

[lonestarnot]

51. These fucking things are still there!

[AZBlue]

52. They're all still there - I'm contacting PETA & the Humane Society.

For anyone who would like to help out:

Humane Society of the United States
2100 L Street NW
Washington, DC 20037-1598
202-452-1100
To find your regional humane society office, go to: http://www.hsus.org/contact_us/your_regional_office.html

PETA:
Their online form: http://www.peta.org/about/c-police.asp
501 Front Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
Important page to check out on animal cruelty on the internet and what can be done about it:
http://www.peta.org/actioncenter/onlinecruelty.asp



Animal cruelty is something I can't stomach and I won't let this rest. Thank you again to Gentle Giant for bringing this to our attention!

[Systematic Chaos]

53. I spent more than an hour trying to deal with this the way YouTube wants it dealt with...

...and I must say at this point I'm really pissed with what seems to me to be absolute hypocrisy on YouTube's part.

If someone has a complaint about a video, they are expected to first flag the video and then - after navigating a maze of web pages - fill out a form which allows one to provide the link to the video in question plus a short desciption. While jumping through the hoops to get to that online form, one may notice the promise that YouTube makes which states that flagged videos are looked into 24/7.

It has now been over 36 hours since my original post here, as well as my attempts to flag all five of the videos on YouTube. It would appear that at least a couple dozen of us have all done this. So where is that 24/7 vigilance they assure us of? Oh, I know. It is most likely being utilized in the all-important war against the unlawful posting of copyrighted material and precious "intellectual property"! Why, that poor cat will just have to wait at least a year for enough outrage to build that people contact every possible agency under the sun on the cat's behalf!

I tried to fill out the online form wherein it gives a space to post the link(s) to the offending videos, but found that the field wasn't large enough to post even one of the links. I thought about going through that process five times, once for each thread, and copying and pasting a description which would allow even a dyslexic, rabid gazelle to clearly see that yes, this cat is being emotionally tormented well beyond the point which could bring on physical illness and now it will likely be traumatized for life.

Then I thought after a year of these being up, what would even be the damn point to that?, and after three different searches and clicking on a couple dozen links I finally found a direct contact number for YouTube here. That number, according to the link, is [phone]. That number will be getting a call from me tomorrow afternoon if the videos are allowed to stay yet another day. So long as they have the resources to wipe all kinds of copyrighted crap from their database in an eyeblink, YouTube can take their little flags and courtesy online forms and shove them squarely up their collective ass. :argh:

[AZBlue]

54. I filled out that form too - just once, but I indicated that the poster has several videos.

And I warned YouTube fairly that if they didn't take action within 24 hours I'd be contacting HSUS and PETA - I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they didn't realize the videos were there. This was in addition to flagging each of the videos under "animal abuse" and as you said, there are many of us that did that. I also left a comment on each video.

They've done NOTHING which says to me that they condone this type of behavior - so the gloves are off, as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks for the YouTube number - they'll be getting a call from me too!

[Kajsa]

56. Thank you, Gentle Giant!

for bringing this to our attention.

:hug:

[Systematic Chaos]

61. When I see that little white kitty...

...it reminds me so much of my Marmalade (usually just called Marmie), who's half white and half orange, but otherwise very small and skittish. I had about the same reaction to these as I would have had knowing someone hurt my own cat.

[Kajsa]

62. I felt the same way-

as if it were my cats getting hurt.


:hug:

[Kajsa]

55. I did too, AZBlue.

Have you heard anything, yet?

I haven't.

Dear God, I fear the worst for this poor cat,
considering these have been up for over a year.

;(---YouTube IS responsible for allowing this!

[geardaddy]

57. Done.

Flagged all five.

[The Stranger]

58. Can't recommend, so kicking.

[Systematic Chaos]

60. Damned if those videos aren't STILL there!

I still see a lot of great stuff on YouTube, and I think the whole premise of it is wonderful, but the longer this drags on the more pissed I'm getting. I'm just guessing here, but I'd be willing to bet that all five of these videos combined have received a flurry of at least 100 to 150 flags in the last two days. This is the best their "team of crack experts who work to resolve content issues 24/7" can do? I haven't called YouTube yet because I've been in quite a bit of pain today. If anyone else has tried the number I posted above I'd really like to know what transpired.

[Kajsa]

63. I just tried that number, GG.

I got the answering machine then, when I tried
to leave a message, " the mailbox was full".

I bet it was!

Unbelievable!
They are still there.

I hope you feel better,soon.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

64. All flagged. Now on the flipside..must see kitties on youtube! Link in message!

http://www.mininova.org/det/1199259