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As Hilaria Baldwin tries to overcome her Spanish heritage scandal, she floods her Instagram with cute family photos from her busy “Baldwinito” household.
But the newest member of the family could create another problem for the mother’s contested influencer and actor husband Alec Baldwin.
No, Hilaria and Alec Baldwin mysteriously did not bring home another new baby. Rather, the mother of six announced that they had given their 7-year-old daughter Carmen a new pet, a kitten with a cute face and leopard-like spots.
The adorable cat named Emilio Cookie Baldwin is a new lead actress on Hilaria Baldwin’s Instagram family show. But his purchase earned the Baldwins a scolding from an organization they have long supported, humans for the ethical treatment of animals. That’s because Emilio appears to be a Bengal cat that was obtained from an upscale breeder. From an animal welfare point of view, it is even more questionable that the identified breeder has specialized in the production of expensive, exotic-looking hybrid cats, which come from the cross of a domestic cat with an Asian leopard.
Hilaria and Alec Baldwin made their daughter’s dream come true by getting her a kitten. She called it Emilio Cookie Baldwin. pic.twitter.com/6eMOFuOMuG
– GeorgeArliss1868 (@ arliss1868) April 28, 2021
It seems that the Baldwins should know that PETA and other animal welfare groups are strongly discouraging people from using breeders and instead encouraging them to adopt pets from animal shelters.
Moira Colley, a PETA spokeswoman, tried to give the couple the benefit of the doubt by saying, “The Baldwins as we know and speak out against cruelty to wild cats and bears, wearing fur, animal testing for cosmetics, and beyond no doubt they failed to see the impact of buying a cat from a breeder. “
Colley continued in an email statement, “If they had known, they would have safely gone to a shelter and adopted a cat that might otherwise die for lack of a good home.”
But Hilaria Baldwin made it sound like she and Alec knew what they were doing. In her announcement about the kitten, Hilaria Baldwin claimed they “did a lot of research, searched a lot” before buying Emilio.
The yogi and self-proclaimed wellness expert said they had “struggled” for years to satisfy Carmen’s “desperate” desire for a cat since they were two years old.
The fight centered on the fact that “Alec is allergic to cats,” claimed Hilaria Baldwin. In fact, Bengal cats are known to be hypoallergenic mainly because they have thick, short coats.
Hilaria Baldwin seemed to be hoping that her husband’s alleged allergy would be a justification for going to a breeder to buy a trendy cat instead of adding an ordinary rescue cat into her family as PETA and other animal welfare groups would recommend.
As Colley points out, the Baldwins could have found a Bengal cat to adopt if they needed the breed for Alec Baldwin’s health problems. In addition to the Bengal cats available on Petfinder.com, there are organizations dedicated to finding homes for Bengali who are strays or have been given over by their owners. The Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA in Burlingame gets two or three Bengals a year in need of loving homes, said communications manager Buffy Martin Tarbox.
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin’s cat buying decisions come four months after she was embroiled in a bizarre scandal. Born and raised in Boston as Hillary Hayward-Thomas, she was accused of trying for more than 10 years trying to pose as a Spanish immigrant in hopes that European acting would make her brand more interesting.
Among many well-documented incidents, Hilaria Baldwin was identified as “half-Spanish” at a presentation to the United Nations in 2019, while distinguishing herself as a wellness expert, environmentalist and animal rights advocate
PETA has previously raised concerns about celebrity promoting purchases of hybrid cats, which are sold at high prices to breeders who think it’s cool to own an unusual-looking pet. In 2019, PETA’s senior vice president beat Justin Bieber for spending $ 35,000 on two breeder’s Savannah cats, some of which were wild. Bieber is married to Alec Baldwin’s niece, Hailey Baldwin.
Alec Baldwin is getting a kitten pic.twitter.com/742piswiCf
– GeorgeArliss1868 (@ arliss1868) April 29, 2021
“Justin Bieber could inspire fans around the world to save a life by adopting a cat from a local animal shelter – instead of fueling the dangerous demand for hybrid cats, contributing to the animal overpopulation crisis and proving it when it comes to it goes to help animals. His attitude so far has been “I don’t care,” said PETA Vice President Lisa Lange.
Embrace Bengals, the cattery that Hilaria Baldwin tagged in her photos of Emilio, charges about $ 2,000 per kitten and says that famous clients include the Baldwins, Terrell Owens and Young Thug. Embrace Bengals cats have also been “featured in movies, magazine ads and TV shows,” the cattery website states.
However, Bengal and Savannah cats, known as “living room leopards,” remain controversial because they come from a corner of the exotic pet market denounced by PETA and groups like the American Association of Veterinary Medicine and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (denounced ) has been. AAFP). In a 2017 statement, the AAFP said it “strongly opposes the breeding of non-domestic cats over domestic cats and discourages early generation hybrid cats from owning early-generation hybrid cats out of concerns about public safety and welfare.”
Hybrid cats are known to often grow larger than domestic cats and have feral traits, a unique way of attaching to people, and other behavioral traits that lead some owners to conclude that if they get over they are too much to cope with mature beyond the cuddly kitten stage. Savannah and Bengal cats are sometimes abandoned or given to rescue groups.
“Hybrid cats exhibit wild behaviors that make them difficult to have in a family home,” said Colley of PETA.
Some states and cities have legal restrictions on Bengals and other hybrid cats. In New York City, where the Baldwins have a home, it is illegal to sell or own a wild animal, which may include hybrids or the crossbreeds of a wild cat and a domesticated cat.
But Bengal fans say the cats sold by breeders are “domesticated” cats, typically four generations or more away from the wildcat to ensure a mild temperament and a healthy pet. Bengals Embrace said on its website that it socializes its kittens on a daily basis so that they can have “sociable, loving personalities”.
Martin Tarbox said the Bengals who have come into the peninsula’s humane society are quite “domestic” as well as loving and social. But she said bengals are not for every family.
“They are certainly beautiful cats and don’t require special care, but one thing is that they are very high-energy cats,” said Martin Tarbox. “As adults, they still play like kittens and require a lot of stimulation and activity.”
That said, they’ll need space to run around, lots of toys, and even a companion cat to play with. They’re also “talkative,” said Martin Tarbox, which means they meow a lot. “If you’re looking for a mild cat, these aren’t the cats you should adopt,” she said.
