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Thursday, March 01, 2007

Take A Whack At Ohio's Online Game That Neuters Cats

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Check out CATSTRATION, where players fling meat cleavers online at flying cats and try to slice off their gonads. It sounds gross but is really intended as an animal rights effort to teach Americans that neutering and spaying pets can trim the number of unwanted animals dumped as strays. For each cat whose equipment is whacked, the lives of seven are spared.

Ideopia, a brand building firm with offices in Raleigh, N.C. and Cincinnati, says it came up with the online game in conjunction with the Humane Society of the United States and veterinarians who are sponsoring free or low-cost spay and neutering clinics this month. The company describes itself as socially responsible but dedicated to offering unorthodox approaches to advertising, web design and guerrilla marketing.

CEO Bill Abramovitz said in a statement that too many animals are euthanized because there are no homes for them.

"Our game, CASTRATION, wasn't designed for animal rights activists, animal lovers or tree-hugging nut jobs like ourselves. We're trying to reach the people who own animals, and don't understand the importance of spaying and neutering. A game was chosen for this project because of its potential to spread via the Internet and command the attention of a wide audience. Although the tone of both the game and Web site may appear flip, the point is delivered in plain language: The best solution we have to offer unwanted pets is euthanasia. This is simply unacceptable."

How do the online cats fight back against the flying knives? They dump hairballs. If the player loses, the screen floods with cats. Ideopia is HERE. Have a ball playing the game.

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