Animal Abuse

By: Dominick M.

 

            Imagine Sarah McLachlan’s song On the Wings of an Angel is playing. When you see super skinny dogs and you see that they look sad, and when you see dogs that are chained up outside with no one else around them, and they have scars all over their body, how do you feel? Just because we are humans and they are dogs does not mean we can just let them suffer and starve to death outside. Dogs help us, so we have to do the same for them. Hundreds of dogs are suffering right this second. We can help by not beating and leaving them changed up outside to let them rot. Would you want to be chained up outside without any warmth, food, or water?

 In an article, there is a rottweiler puppy named Lucy, and his owner is a man.   His neighbors had audio of the man yelling and threatening the puppy, and then they heard a thud and then a yelp from Lucy.

            The most common animals that get abused are dogs, cats, horses, and livestock. Hoarding animals is an indicator that the person needs mental and social health services. According to the Humane Society, when asked why people abuse animals, they state, ¨There can be many reasons. Animal cruelty, like any other form of violence, is often committed by a person who feels powerless, unnoticed or under the control of others. The motive may be to shock, threaten, intimidate or offend others or to demonstrate rejection of society's rules.¨  To get more information and answers to other animal abuse questions you may have, visit www.humanesociety.org.

The highest percentage ( 45%) of animal abuse is under the category of Neglect/Abandonment.   The smallest percentage of abuse is beating, which happens 10% of the time. Fighting occurs  12% of the time and shooting 16%. The last type of animal abuse involves hoarding, and it occurs 17%.

People have always cared about animals in trouble, but in 1966, a law called The Animal Welfare Act was passed. The law is a federal animal protection law. Did you know that dogfighting is covered by the act? Chickens and turkeys are the most farmed animals in the United States. Transportation trucks have to stop every 28 hours so the animals can get exercise and get food and water. But if the trucks have food and water, and the animals can get to it, the truckers do not have to stop. A human slaughter act was passed in 1958 and then amended in 1978. The law states that farmers have to stun the animals before they slaughter them so the animals are in less pain when they get slaughtered.  Did you know that chickens are not covered in this law?

People have to stop abusing animals. Other people, who don’t abuse animals, can help in many different ways.  Some people can buy dog food or animal food and make donations to a shelter.   They can also report instances of animal abuse when they see it.  Think about the sad and scared animals; don’t they deserve to be helped?