Cats rule the Internet, but they also rule the exhibit, "Crazy Cat Ladies," at the new Animal Museum in downtown L.A. through November 27th.
"Cat ladies aren't actually crazy. They have an important, integral role to society," says museum founder Carolyn Merino Mullin.
The exhibit pokes fun at the stereotypes of spinster cat ladies while also trying to break them, as well.
Museum-goers will first walk in on a replica of a cat lady's living room with overflowing shelves and tables of tchotchkes – cat figurines, cat commemorative plates and cat books ("How to Massage Your Cat").
Get past that initial shock, though, and the museum educates people that cat ladies may also take part in animal protection activities like trap-neuter-release programs for feral cats.
"The amount of people who are crazy cat ladies is infinitesimally small," says museum founder Carolyn Merino Mullin. "The majority are very normal people just like you and me who care about cats."
The museum also displays a timeline to some important milestones in cat welfare history – did you know the first U.S. city to ban the declawing of cats was West Hollywood in 2003?
"Crazy Cat Ladies" is the Animal Museum's first exhibition since opening its permanent location in October, and the museum itself is the only one in its kind in the country dedicated to animal protection – from adopting a pet to switching to an animal-free diet.
Future exhibits will include, "Entangled," which puts the spotlight on how litter and trash in oceans are harming marine animals.