Animal Cafes Around The World

Even if there weren’t two fluffy super-sweet sheep named Elsa and Anna milling around, we’d still pop by Thanks Nature Café for coffee to bask in its earthy, routh-hewn vibes and grab a banana honey waffle (setting us back around $11). The place is run by one man who also has an affinity for celebrity portraiture sketches, and you get a serious dose of both on the cafe’s Instagram feed.

Location: Hongdae, South Korea

Followers: 452

For being a crazy-popular destination for locals and natives alike, the Tokyo owl café has a pretty low-key Instagram feed. In fact, that’s pretty common of animal hang-outs outside the U.S.; the places rely on their visitors to add location and hashtags, and #akibafukurou does not disappoint. One reason? Customers spend one-on-one time with a little owl of their choosing, from a handful of breeds. The owner and bird lover Shusaua Yasu is also outspoken on the subject of ethics and doesn’t give a hoot what critics say—his owls are born there and as a result, he’s “imprinted” on them. In fact, when he locks up at night, all the owls go home with him.

Location: Akihabara, Japan

Followers: 286

Bau House has the distinction of being the only dog cafe in Seoul. A few ohter distinguishing factors? Unlimited playtime, “free” admission (buying a $6 milkshake or Americano gets you in), and you can BYOD if you so please. Near-daily posts show who’s on deck for playtime, and show how clean that place is kept, earning its 4.5 star TripAdvisor rating.

Location: Seoul, South Korea

Followers: 1300

Little Zoo’s publicity of late has been a zoo itself, thanks to the fennec foxes and meerkats guests can snuggle up with. Their exotic nature has animal rights activists more than a little upset, and worried for the welfare of guests. These are untamed desert dwellers, sure, so the cafe limits playdates to 10 minutes. They get tuckered out quickly! But not before most people can snap a ridiculously entertaining video or selfie. (Further ruffing activists’ feathers? There’s an adjoining exotic pet shop, but we’ll leave that out of this for now.)

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Followers: 5,020

We know, we just declared the cat café outmoded, but what we actually meant is that our fellow animal lovers in Asia are onto the next. Stateside, cat cafés are just catching on now, which puts us on track for the arrival of fox/sheep/owl cafés by 2020. In the mean time, hit up KitTea in SF, founded by tech-world vets Courtney Hatt and David Braginsky. Bonus: like most American animal cafes, all of the cats are up for adoption via Give Me Shelter.

Location: San Francisco, SF

Followers: 5,576