14th August 2025
Over the past few months, multiple news stories have circulated online regarding the launch of the UK’s first ‘Capybara Cafe’. Freedom for Animals has united with our colleagues at Born Free Foundation, Animal Aid, OneKind, World Animal Protection, and RSPCA to strongly urge the operators, and the local authority, to halt these plans before they get underway. We have attempted to open a dialogue with the operators directly but received no response, so we are now publishing our position publicly.
Capybaras are wild animals, native to South America. Their seemingly tranquil nature and adorable appearance has made them a popular animal amongst the public world-wide, and has even led to the opening of ‘Capybara Cafes’ in Tokyo and Florida. These cafes are exploitative attractions in which capybaras are held captive as a promotional tool to encourage visitors. Now, there are plans to bring the concept to Norfolk.
Norfolk’s Capybara Cafe has been proposed as a ‘therapeutic’ service for neurodiverse people and those with disabilities or other vulnerabilities. We wholeheartedly support the provision of genuine therapies for those who need them, however there is no evidence that contact with wild animals provides a therapeutic outcome that cannot be achieved with other means, and Freedom for Animals disputes this justification for keeping any wild animal in captivity.
The concept for Norfolk’s Capybara Cafe is in its very early stages, and it does not need to progress any further. The operator’s latest update was that they had not secured land or applied for a zoo licence – the capybaras they intend to display haven’t even been born yet. Freedom for Animals has united with our colleagues at Born Free Foundation, Animal Aid, OneKind, World Animal Protection, and RSPCA to say that the idea should go no further. It is nobody’s right to have access to wild animals, and capybaras deserve much better than to be used as promotional tools, or therapeutic aids. They deserve to live in the wild where they belong.
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