Owners asked if pets are ‘non-binary’ or ‘gender neutral’ by animal talent agency

AN ANIMAL modelling agency asked owners whether their pet is gender-neutral or non-binary in a drive to “be inclusive”.

Urban Paws, which describes itself as the leading animal talent agency in the UK, included four categories of gender in the application form owners are asked to fill in to register their pets: “male”, “female”, “gender neutral/non binary” and “prefer not to say”.

Urban Paws, which has operated for the past 40 years, supplies pets and animals to film producers, television studios, PR agencies, theatre productions and in-house marketing teams.

The agency’s gender neutral category was revealed after James Esses, a writer and commentator, tried to register his cat Leo with Urban Paws.

He told The Telegraph: “Everyone has been telling me how handsome my new kitten, Leo, is and so I thought I might register him to do some cat modelling. When going through the form, I discovered, to my utter bemusement, that along with his colour, breed and age, I was being asked for his ‘gender’, which included asking whether he identifies as ‘gender neutral/non-binary’.

“The fact we have reached a stage in which pet owners are being asked how their pets self-identify, tells us that we as a society have lost our minds. If I didn’t laugh, I would cry.”

Mr Esses is the coordinator of the Declaration for Biological Reality, which voices concerns about the impact of gender identity ideology on society. An employee at Urban Paws told The

Telegraph the question was included in the application form because “they’re just trying to be inclusive”.

But shortly after being told that the category had prompted mockery on social media it was removed from the online application form, though the “prefer not to say” category was retained.

Urban Paws said the gender neutral category had been removed after being included on the form by mistake.

The firm said: “That category is only for humans. It wouldn’t apply to animals. It was an error made when we moved over to a new system for registration and the form has now been updated.”

Among Urban Paws’ recent clients was last year’s John Lewis Christmas advert, which included a pet pomeranian called Jane, and a McVities biscuits advert featuring a cat called CJ.