Animal abuse is a real issue that happens to thousands of helpless animals every day. It has been studied that an animal is abused every 60 seconds in the United States. In today’s culture cruelty to animals is completely unacceptable and yet it continues to occur. Animal abuse comes in many different forms but the impact to the animal is always the same. Our pets are able to experience a range of emotions and feeling just like us. They feel fear, pain, hunger and desperation and to intentionally inflict these feelings on an animal is abhorrent behavior.
Our would sometimes turns a blind eye to animal cruelty through legislation and indifference. If you are slaughtering chickens, for example, you can keep those animals in absolutely deplorable conditions. This is because of legislation passed by our government that sees these animals as nothing but a means of producing food.
There are not enough people out there fighting for the rights of animals. Animals don’t have the ability to stop or protest our actions. We share our planet with millions of different creatures and they deserve the same respect that we give each other. Spreading awareness is only the first step to making sure that we treat animals with the respect that they deserve.
Animal cruelty is legally defined as abuse or neglect toward an animal. It is a simple thing to understand. You are guilty of animal cruelty when you purposefully put an animal in a harmful situation that can scare, terrorize or harm them.
What Does Animal Cruelty Look Like?
Many animal cruelty investigations are large operations that look into individuals or companies that abuse hundreds or thousands of animals at one time. This is commonly founds at factory farming operations where agents will sometimes go undercover to investigate the horrible treatment of these animals. This however, is not the only form of animal cruelty. Another type of animal cruelty happens against our pets. Some people may leave a dog in a hot car with the windows closed, or hit their dog when he misbehaves. This can happen anywhere and could be going on around you right now.
Listed below, are a number of different types of abuse that animals go through on a daily basis:
Animal Abuse
This is the most common form of animal cruelty and occurs when an individual harms an animal that may or may not be their pet. Kicking a dog for doing something wrong is a common form of this abuse.
Animal Neglect
This abuse happens when an animal (most commonly a pet) is left without food, water or adequate shelter. This can include leaving a dog in a hot car or outside in the rain, as well as leaving him or her in your home for extended periods of time without access to food and water.
Animal Exploitation
This happens when individuals or companies abuse animals in order to attain monetary gain. This type of abuse is commonly seen at theme parks and circuses. Ninety six percent of circus animals lives are spent in cages. Imagine not being able to leave a small cage for most of your life. Our country saves punishment like this for our most violent criminals and yet these innocent animals are subjected to these conditions every day for no other reason than the fact that their owners make money off of them.
Animal Testing
Animals have been used as test subjects for all kinds of experimental drugs a procedures. These facilities are highly regulated and while these animals are being used for the advancement of our society, it is imperative that they are treated fairly and ethically
Human Predation
While hunting, for some, is a means of survival, there are people who hunt for the sole purpose of killing an animal for sport. These so called “trophy hunters” spend millions of dollars to kill large animals only to get a picture and the animals head on their wall. Most of these individuals are not real hunters and pay thousands of dollars to have someone else track the animal only for the “hunter” to pull the trigger at the appropriate time. The hunting community looks down on these people and it gives hunters that use every part of the animal they hunt, a bad name.
Humans sometimes see animals as objects. They view them as something they can use either for entertainment or monetary gain without thinking of them as living, breathing organisms. They feel pain and emotion just as we do and the more people that understand that, the better. We need to start showing people that animal abuse is not ok and we will rally against those that view animals solely as objects to be used.
Animal Cruelty and Crime
Many researchers have connected animal abuse with different types of crime. Criminalists have said that individuals that have abused animals at a young age, are more likely to exhibit psychopathic tendencies. Animal abuse in youth is something that is founds in the pasts of many serial killers. They use animals as a spring board to murdering humans because an animal is much easier to catch. Also, dog fighting which is a common tradition among gangs is linked to large scale criminal organizations that have been found to traffic drugs and humans. These people have no regard for life and tend to treat humans and animals with no compassion.
Christie Digiaimo, Executive VP of Baker Street Funding commented, “Now is the time we step up and do something. If you witness an animal being abused, speak out and do something about it. Contact the police and help the animal in need. The worst thing in the world is for good people to be silent so everyone must do their part to protect those that cannot protect themselves. Have a voice for the voiceless”
This article was submitted by Mss. Digiaimo who has been highly involved on helping animal abuse/cruelty causes within the United States and internationally.
