Animal abuse Essay

Animal abuse is when someone inflicts pain or harm upon an animal such as not giving them their basic needs (food and water) to beating them. In between 5 and 7 million animal companions enter an animal shelter nationwide, every year (www.aspca.org), and within 50 miles of Hayward, CA, there are 170 animal cruelty cases reported (www.pet-abuse.com). Imagine what these innocent beings that cannot speak out to let the human know they are in pain feel. Animals need us to speak out and help reduce their suffering instead of making their lives worse. Animal safety needs to be improved by creating more laws to protect animals from harm. Animal cruelty is shaped by two forms of abuse, different types of animal abuse, opinions on how animal cruelty happens, organizations that help fight for animal rights, and ways to report it. see more:animal abuse essay Everyday animals are being taken advantage of and being brutally abused. They are beaten, kept in cages, and enslaved just for a person’s own amusement (www.peta.org). Humans like to have freedom but yet they have no problem locking animals away because they don’t feel like dealing with them. The law sees passive and active abuse as illegal but they don’t have strict consequences that follow. Passive abuse is when the crime is less intentional and active is doing it intentionally to cause pain upon an animal (www.pet-abuse.com). Why should animals have to endure this cruel torture? What did they do to deserve this? I believe animals should be more protected under the law and not just thrown around like garbage. Furthermore, there are many three main categories of animal abuse which are slaughter houses, animal testing, and finally in-house abuse. When slaughter house workers cut the heads off of a chicken their hearts are still beating, so they are forced to suffer for to benefit humans and are not protected under the law to be slaughtered humanely. Two hundred and eighty-seven chickens, three point sixty-eight pigs, and one point two cow are  slaughtered per second (www.annimalsuffering.com). Should so many animals be put through this cruel and unusual torture? There should be a maximum number under the law that prevents them from slaughtering so many in a small amount of time. There are many forms of animal testing, but the two main animal tests are, the Eye Irritancy and Acute Toxicity. The Eye Irritancy test is also known as the Draize eye test which is performed on rabbits by inserting a fluid with a needle in one eye to see how it reacts to this fluid. The rabbits are put in a contraption that locks their heads and endure a lot of suffering such as ulcers, blindness, and usually death. Next, Acute Toxicity is a method where they determine how much of a chemical can be exposed to the mouth, skin, and inhaled with rats and mice. These rodents are poisoned and the experiment ends when at least half of the testing animals die from the trial. They suffer from excruciating pain, convulsions, loss of motor function and seizures (www.aavs.org). No laws state that animal testing cannot be performed; therefore, they can inflict pain upon the animals at any time without worry of being prosecuted. They are able to inject them with lethal chemicals but when it comes to humans everyone is against injecting humans such as in the death penalty because it is inhumane and unusual torture. Finally, in-house abuse, is abuse from human to pet. According to the U.S. Animal Abuse Classifications chart neglect/abandonment ranks 1st with 5, 365 cases, animal hoarding ranks 2nd with 2,061 cases, and shooting comes in 3rd with 1,888 cases. I believe there should be laws that require background checks on violence and brutality in order to own pets because there are connection between violence and abusing animals. Overall, the United States has a high rate of people mistreating innocent animals and it must be prevented in order to protect these voiceless beings. Since the law is not doing much to protect these animals from cruel humans, the people believe they can get away with this crime. They have insecurities and since animals are smaller than them and can’t speak out they take all their frustrations out on them. Animals are helpless creatures whom are assumed to have no feelings. Animals are put through pain and torture due to people’s anger and ignorance. When a human is murdered, the law gives consequences to the murderer, but when animals are end up dead because of being tortured, the law does not provide consequences for the crime. These  people need to take responsibility for their actions and get the same punishment that they would get if these inflictions were toward a human. Animals deserve to have the same rights and be protected under the law. Despite of all the ignorant people, there are those who believe in equality between animals and humans and choose to be up standers. If laws were created that protected animals, these organizations would have a better support system for their fight. Laws would make these groups easier to support, therefore they could make more of a difference. For example, animal shelters provide the basic necessities such as food, shelter, and water and a safe environment for them to recover from the harsh acts. Without these shelters, animals will lose hope, so in order to keep them running, donations need to be given. Besides animal shelter, there are specific organizations that help fight for animal rights and help prevent animal cruelty. Some examples of organizations are the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). These groups believe that animals are just as equal as humans and should not be treated the way they are. People need to take responsibility for their actions, take care of their pets properly, and encourage others to do the same. In order to provide sufficient ways of life for animals, the law must support these organizations. Although there are organizations that fight to make a difference, individuals can stop animal cruelty. The Karma Dog organization stated, â€Å"What come around goes around.† Furthermore, there are many strategies you can use to report any signs of abuse or neglect. They can call 911 if the animal is being forced to fight other animals, starved, tortured, and has heavy chains around the neck, open wounds, and mutilation. Another number you can call is 311. When calling 311 the conditions are deprivation of food, water, improper vet care and shelter, untreated skin conditions, has extreme flea infestation, and extremely long nails and matted hair. When seeing animal abuse posted through the internet you must immediately contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) which is partnered with the FBI (http://www.belladogmagaizine.com). Finally, you can go onto change.org and sign petitions to stop animal testing and cruelty. You may not think one signature will make a difference but it does because once enough signatures  are collaborated, the government will realize something needs to be done. Never give up and keep fighting for these innocent animals. Even though animal abuse is wrong and hurtful to animals, some owners don’t purposely inflict harm upon them. For example, if the owner is having a really busy day and doesn’t have the time to walk their dog or they forget to feed them. Why should the owner be penalized for an accident? If the owner tries his best and treats the dog well any other time shouldn’t he be let off with a warning? A person should not be penalized for an accident because many things happen in life that causes distractions. Pet owners don’t intentionally neglect their pets and they deserve the chance to prove the courts otherwise. Some believe that animals are here to serve us so if so then we should not have to pamper them as we would for ourselves. In conclusion, animals and humans are no different and they should not be treated differently under the law. However, people in the United States mistreat innocent begins and laws need to be enforced to prevent it. Some think that animals cannot speak, that what happens to them will not affect them mentally, but every living animals have feeling whether they can talk or not. Treat an animal the way you would want to be treated. When using products, people should think to look if it has been tested on animals. Registering or volunteering at organizations that help prevent and heal abused animals will set a good example to others to fight for what you believe in. The bible states, â€Å"Do unto others.† This phrase is for all being not just humans so why should animals have to continue suffering. Be your own person and fight against animal abuse because this is cruel and unusual torture. Works Cited â€Å"Pet Statistics.† ASPCA. N.p., 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"Reporting Internet Animal Abuse | BellaDOG Magazine.† Reporting Internet Animal Abuse | BellaDOG Magazine. N.p., 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"The Issues.† PETA. N.p., 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"Types of Animal Testing.† -The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS). N.p., 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2012. . Corp., Petabuse. â€Å"Animal Cruelty.† Animal Cruelty | Pet-Abuse.Com Animal Cruelty Database. N.p., 2001-2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2012. . Corp., Petabuse. â€Å"Local Animal Cruelty Case Search | Pet-Abuse.Com Animal Cruelty Database.† Local Animal Cruelty Case Search | Pet-Abuse.Com Animal Cruelty Database. N.p., 2001-2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2012. . Hugo, Victor. â€Å"Animal Slaughter, Abuse and Cruelty. Behind the Screens.† AnimalSuffering. Animals Rights Concerns, 2003,2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2012. .