The sad thing is, that "cute" otter isn't playing, it has been slowly driven insane by the incessant tapping that goes on day in and day out on the glass that surrounds its enclosure. There's very little wonder as to why this goes on. When people can't control their idiotic narcissistic persona that needs to be fed with the constant attention of other people and things all the time, even the animals they themselves and many others happen to be looking at - they tap, without any thought or emotion as to how that tapping is going to effect said animal in the long run after a sustained period of time.
So no, it is not cute, it is cruel and those involved should be stripped of their rights and placed in cages in the exact same fashion. Then once they crush their own skull by banging it against the rocks so many times (having gone insane like so many have before them), they should be skinned and their meat sold on the black market in China as an aphrodisiac.
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Vote Ron Paul.