Students disappointed after puppy petting day is cancelled

Anticipation for the new term has been building all week. The snow created a picture-postcard scene in front of the Ziggs, and students were getting excited about a puppy petting event on campus scheduled to coincide with the start of term. The Tab even had a pun-filled article ready to tell you all about it. Alas, we were forced to ‘paws’ for thought when it appeared the event had been cancelled.

Now, my flatmates don’t call me an expert social media sleuth (or something along those lines) for nothing. I was not satisfied. So I got to work. It seems that the original Facebook event, which had over 1,000 people marked as ‘attending’ has been changed from a “UEA Student Puppy Petting Day” to a “Vintage Fair at The University of East Anglia”, with a new time, and date of the 14th June! Even the host organisation has changed, from “Puppy Petting Day” to “UEA Summer Ball”, whatever that means. They have also since added a link on the event to another page entitled “Free Events in Norwich”.

Funnily enough, it seems the only thing that hasn’t changed is the combined 2,700 people who marked the original as ‘attending’ or ‘interested’.

The “UEA Summer Ball” page changed its profile photo and cover picture on Saturday to nondescript stock photos of UEA, with little other information provided, and no evidence of its apparent previous guise as “Puppy Petting Day”.

A Before and After that would shame even the best celebrity endorsed weight loss advert

What’s more, the “UEA Summer Ball” vintage fair event has lifted the photo, event name and description word-for-word from the legit University Vintage Fairs page, who host their next event in The Hive on the 10th February. Consequently, the edited puppy petting event now gives two contrasting dates: the event date of the 14th June, and the 10th February, in the copy-and-pasted event blurb.

We contacted University Vintage Fairs (UniVF) and they confirmed that the event was an imposter, and that they had reported it.

Spot the difference… (left: the legit event; right: the event formally known as…)

The benefits of dogs visiting campus hardly need to be stressed. It’s well known that there are tangible scientific benefits to petting a puppy, plus, of course, it’s a nice stress reliever- why else are working dogs taken into retirement homes and hospital wards? So, the ire of some is completely understandable after an event that was supposed to lower the blood pressure has in fact caused more disappointment- we have our coursework grades to do that for us thank you very much.

UEA students have not been shy in coming forward and telling of their disappointment. One, who preferred to remain nameless, said: “I can’t believe it! It’s just really, really disappointing. If they were going to cancel the event, they should have just deleted the Facebook event rather than get our hopes up then make it into a new event half of us aren’t interested in. I was really looking forward to seeing the puppies.”

The puppy petting event had created a buzz on social media, with numerous shares and expressions of delight and excitement for the event. Now all this looks to have all been misplaced, and a Facebook search reveals loads of excited posts and comments (some even with dog emojis!) over, er, a used clothes sale.

The Tab contacted the page now called UEA Summer Ball for comment. So far no reply has been received.

There’s only one thing worse than the smell of wet dog. And that’s the pong of something fishy.