Animals make corporate zoom calls bearable, if you don’t mind the spit - Fox Business

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Benchling had paid Sweet Farm, a 20-acre animal sanctuary, to spice up the virtual gathering with a video feed of animals including Paco, a 5-foot 9-inch rescue llama.

“We give the hedgehogs baths, which is really cute,” Chelsea Phillips, founder of Tiny Tails to You, said.

Tiny Tails, a virtual petting zoo in Austin, Texas, provides a full tour—hedgehogs, chinchillas, rabbits, chickens, tortoises and more, all competing for attention—with hangouts starting at $65.

One of Tiny Tails’ more mischievous animals is Jeffrey the gecko, who, if held too close to the laptop during calls, leaps onto the screen.

Phillips said they now feed the animals well in advance to avoid unwanted accidents.

Saltpeter’s Sweet Farm has over 150 rescued animals including pigs, turkeys, cows, chickens, sheep, horses and goats.

These days, a ten-minute “Goat-2-Meeting”—a pun on GoToMeeting conferencing software by LogMeIn Inc.—with unlimited guests costs $100, helping to raise money for Sweet Farm and a collection of other animal sanctuaries.

Sweet Farm has conducted over 8,000 calls.

People can invite goats to video calls—£5 for five minutes—and even create personalized messages for the goats to eat using edible paper and ink (£10).

The farm uses a smartphone, and the goats are constantly nibbling at its biodegradable case.

Market data provided by Factset.

Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions.

Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper