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06th Jul 2017

Katy Perry has been accused of animal cruelty

The offensive ad has been pulled.

Anna O'Rourke

A storm in a teacup or a fair accusation?

An ad featuring Katy Perry has been pulled in Australia after it sparked concerns over animal welfare.

The singer features in the ad for Myer One, a department store, to promote the Australian leg of her Witness world tour.

In the ad, Katy encourages her teacup poodle Nugget to “go chase some koalas.”

It sparked anger from one Aussie vet, who said she was “sickened”, as she treats many koalas who have been viciously attacked by dogs.

“This is just absolute ignorance from Perry and Myer, and inappropriate on so many levels,” vet and reality TV star Claire Madden told the Courier Mail newspaper.

In response to the outcry, Myer said it has pulled the ad.
“We are aware of comments in relation to Katy Perry’s Witness: The Tour advertisement and a particular reference made to koalas. We are currently removing the material which references koalas,” it said in a statement.
Koala numbers are falling in Australia – the Australian Koala Foundation estimates there are fewer than 100,000 koalas left in the wild, while the Queensland RSPCA told the BBC that a quarter of the koalas it rescues are victims of dog attacks.