The rise of social media has turned domestic animals into global celebrities.

The ethical consumer of animal media asks not just "Is this entertaining?" but "What happened before the camera started rolling?" The animal in the frame cannot sign a consent form. It cannot hit pause. It relies on us—the audience, the algorithm, and the industry—to recognize that a living creature’s welfare is worth infinitely more than a viral moment.

One night, after a disastrous livestream where Momo refused to paint, instead huddling in a corner and rocking back and forth, Kazuo lost his temper on camera for 1.7 seconds before the feed cut. But the internet never forgets. Clips spread. Animal rights activists swarmed. The hashtag #FreeMomo trended globally.

Nowhere is this transformation more visible than in the marine park industry. In 2025, the Mexican Congress approved a nationwide ban on dolphin shows and the use of marine mammals in entertainment—a historic victory that prohibits the wild capture, captive breeding, or keeping of marine mammals for any purpose outside of scientific research and conservation. Mexico joined Costa Rica and Chile as Latin American countries banning cetacean captivity, but Spain, where wild animals are banned from circuses, continues to operate dolphinariums.