Anjreyev Harvey Mr. Wagner Pd. 3 Animal cruelty is a pressing subject in today’s society. Even though we use animals for their fur, entertainment, research and as food, we have to do it in a humane way that minimizes pain and suffering towards the animal in use due to animal rights laws that have been enacted.Small organizations such as the ALB (Animal Liberation Brigade), CAFT (Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade), COK (Compassion Over Killing), FoA (Friends of Animals), FFA (Fight For Animals), IDA (In Defense of Animals), LCA(Last Chance for Animals) MFA (Mercy for Animals), and larger more well known organizations like the WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals), ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and the Humane Society of the United States help to prevent and rescue victims of animal abuse.
Animals are usually abused due to the fact that they cannot speak about the wrongs done to them and they cannot call out for help. Not just animal abuse is wrong, but any sort of abuse is immoral overall. To clarify, animal cruelty or animal abuse/neglect is classified as inflicting suffering or damage upon a non-human animal for purposes other than self-defense or survival.
Examples of such abuse are hunters who leave their traps and the animals caught suffer for days before succumbing to exposure, shock, bleeding to death, and death by other predators.These traps can also capture “non-target” animals such as endangered species and dogs and they die in the place of the prey intended. Also for our clothes such as gloves and leather clothing, the animals are skinned our boiled alive for the material to be completely durable.
Eighteen red foxes are killed to make fur coats and fifty five minks are killed just to make one mink coat. Also, more than half the fur in the U. S comes from China who bludgeoned, hanged, and bled to death many cats and dogs for their fur (113 Facts About Animal Cruelty).How many animals have died for the things in your closet? Scientists estimate that over one hundred species go extinct every day due to human development into forest and natural habitats and also our hunting habits. In farms all over the United States, cows are fed unnatural, high-protein diets-which include dead chickens, pigs, and other animals, their kids are then taken away at a young age so that they may be killed, skinned, or raised on some milk substitute.Also, two hundred eighty five million chickens are raised each year to produce eggs but they are so tightly packed that they cannot move a wing, and the claustrophobic environment causes many to die or become sick, yet their eggs are still used. Other animals are cramped into a wire cage which causes cuts, infection, cannibalism and death. Pigs are also ill-treated because they cut piglets tails off and cut their ears to identify them from each other without giving them pain-killers (113 Facts About Animal Cruelty).
When people also use animals for fighting purposes it is abuse and the after effects are horrible.Dogs that are used for fighting are chained, taunted, and starved to trigger extreme survival instincts and encourage aggressiveness and the loser of the fight are abandoned, tortured, set on fire, electrocuted, shot, drowned, or beaten to death. Luckily, dog and cock fighting are illegal in all fifty states. Every year, in bull fighting, an estimated amount of ten thousand bulls die.
The bulls who win are also trained in the same way that a dog is which tortures and hurts the animals. Animal abusers also use their ability to abuse a child’s pet to coerce them into sexual abuse or to keep silent about the abuse already done.In reality, thirteen percent of animal abuse cases involve domestic violence and about seventy percent of animal abusers have record of other crimes (113 Facts About Animal Cruelty).
The sad thing about this is that over sixty-five billion animals are abused each year by humans just for their pleasure, for their fur, experimentation, entertainment and for food. Only about one thousand or so of these cases are actually reported and the people are punished for their deeds, but mostly animals just suffer silently and are never rescued from their pain until they die.Sorrowfully, the sentence people can get for animal abuse is from thirty days to twelve years in jail and a fine from one hundred dollars to three hundred thousand dollars. Only the intense cases like intentional killing get major fines and sentences. It was only in the two decade or so these rules were established in most states and countries because there weren’t that many people who cared about animal cruelty until the 1990’s. Here, in that era, they saw how badly animals were being treated, decided that they can feel too and that laws should be enacted to protect these animals’ rights because they cannot protect themselves.
Not many people in jail throughout America are animal abusers because so many cases are not reported but for the few that are, they are punished for the severity of their actions. The ASPCA is an organization who helps animals in need given the name “American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals”. Their main priority is to find people who are abusers and punish them for their crime and take the animals from their care and put them into better homes.
The ASPCA is one of the oldest longest lasting organizations that protect animals and their rights. They have many advertisements for the cruelty they see and they ask for money which helps to save these animals and take care of them. They also have animal cops who after getting a hint about some cruelty go to observe the situation and take immediate action if needed.
Thousands of animals are rescued each year thanks to this group and are taken immediately to veterinarians on site to care for them and then send them to a home that will fit them.People can adopt these animals if they have no criminal record, a safe home and a correct environment to fit the breed of the animal. The Humane Society is the largest animal advocacy group in the entire world that helps with animal protection from cruelty so much so their motto is “Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty”. They are the company that takes in all the stray animals found, treat them, and then finds them a home.
They also out-rightly oppose animal experimentation, advocate saving endangered species, and lead campaigns against certain things that are happening in society.They also have a very particular choosing process for applicants to adopt an animal because they do not want the animal to end back up in a situation where it gets abused again. This organization has been around since 1984. There is a Humane Society for every state of the United States of America and more than one establishments in some states depending on the size. They also work with many shelters and animal hospitals so that they may execute the most helpful path for the rescued animal.The other smaller organizations such as ALB (Animal Liberation Brigade), CAFT (Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade), COK (Compassion Over Killing), FoA (Friends of Animals), FFA (Fight For Animals), IDA (In Defense of Animals), LCA(Last Chance for Animals) MFA (Mercy for Animals), and the WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals), all help with the protection of animals in the United States in different locations in America. They have many shelters established for people to bring their animals to if they are hurt, found them somewhere or if they simply do not want their pets or cannot take care of them anymore.
Most organizations appreciate them for doing so instead of letting the animal suffer. Some animals die from detachment from their previous owner and such cases are very morbid, but they happen often due to the no pets policies in most restaurants, apartment complexes, houses, and offices. Many people also have allergies and give up their pets due to that or bother their neighbor about their pet because it is affecting their health. In these cases, the nearby shelters are there to take in their pets because when they are more strays there are more chances of them dying and becoming completely unsocial.In the book How Animals Learn, the authors stated that “If an animal changes its behavior as a result of experience, then the animal has learned. ” (Freedman 22) This shows that when animals get repetitively abused or neglected, they change their behavior because they learned to accept it and to fear the people that cause them pain.
Just as we have cops that capture criminals and bring them to justice, we have animal cops that take in and catch the people who harm their animals. The show Animal Cops highlights their job.These people “investigate cases of animal cruelty; rescue sick and abused animals and fight for justice on their behalf. ” (About Animal Cops) The cops have to be passionate about their job and animals and also have to be ready to put themselves in the face of danger for the safety of an animal. The investigators of the scene get paid about $15-60,000 a year and the officers themselves get paid $13,236-44,149 yearly. They may mot be very well paying jobs but it does give you a god feeling that you are helping your community and beings that cannot help themselves.
Some other jobs that help fight animal cruelty are Veterinarians, Animal Trainers, Animal Care Technician, Veterinary assistants and other jobs that are in most businesses such as managers, secretaries, etc. Veterinarians and Animal Trainers are the most important jobs that contribute to the situation because veterinarians heal the injured, neuter the strays, treat them for diseases they have, and help them recuperate while the animal trainers get the animals used to human contact again so that they may be adopted in the future.The animal trainers also help the rescues walk after being treated if they were hurt, help them become used to contact with other animals, and teach them to be used to household items so that they will not overreact when placed in a homely environment. Veterinarians get paid about $35,000-93,000 a year and animal trainers get paid about $36,000-89,000 each year. Both of these salaries have dropped due to more people not hurting their animals because of the severe consequences and that many are being rescued and treated fairly.
Even if you do not want to work in the field, you can become a local hero and just donate money to the organizations that help animals or you can join some of the protests. However, do not be like James Lee who took hostages in the lobby of the Discovery Channel’s Headquarters and demanded that the network stop airing shows that depicted childbirth and raising large families as heroic acts, thereby encouraging the planet’s overpopulation by human “parasites”. Other people, such as Walter Rave, make animal rights their main priority and mission. In Takoma Park, Maryland, there was a man named Walter Rave.He was most commonly known as “Fox Guy” and for a couple decades he had been a familiar sight in Takoma with him being a tall grizzled fellow and he also carried a fox pelt in a steel trap to prove his point.
He was a Vietnam veteran, painter, astronomer, and tool librarian though after the war he made animal rights his main mission. He found his passion when he watched films of slaughterhouses and from there he became an animal rights activist. He demonstrated with others at various places such as Neiman Marcus who used real fur on their clothes and at Lafayette Park where he staged an overnight shift in a human “veal cage”.
He is also a devoted vegan who never eats meat to respond to the animal cruelty in the food industry. He also went to the D. C area and found some other people who understood what he felt and they established the P. E. T. A organization (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). He also went to jail for civil disobedience even though he was a dedicated atheist.
He had agreed with what James Lee had said but not his methods. He, however, got critically burned trying to save his cats that sadly didn’t make it after his effort.He died at the age of 66, not able to talk due to his burns, but happy that he was able to impact some people and create an organization (“Fox Guy”). Even with local efforts from people such as Walter Rave, there are still places that sell real fur and fur pelts proudly and has many buyers of these products because they are exquisite and expensive. These same buyers are causing many animals to become endangered, tortured, killed, murdered, and probably extinct due to the high desire for their fur.
Such websites such as FurSource. com sells things made of only real fur and they supply them in high quantity.The clothes could come from “Chinese fur farms, Indian slaughterhouses, or the Australian outback, [but] an immeasurable amount of suffering goes into every fur-trimmed jacket, leather belt, and wool sweater” (Animals Used for Clothing). Almost every store that sells clothes sells clothes with fur lining, trimming or just a full fur coat. The animals we also consume are much abused as I earlier described. “Each person consumes 230 pounds of animals each year. Together we consume 2. 6 billion pounds of dairy cow a year.
There has been an increase in the amount of animals we consume and how much grain it’s taking to feed them.Eight billion animals a year are slaughtered for food. ” (An Inside Look At Slaughter Houses) An estimate of “38 million cows and calves, 95 million hogs, 5 million sheep and goats, 278 million turkeys, 20 million ducks, and over 7 billion chickens” (An Inside Look At Slaughter Houses). Slaughterhouses that produce all the meat we as omnivores eat, violate every law that relates to animals and even the main law of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and they get as many violations as around 20 or so a month for how they treat their animals.If most people became vegan or vegetarian they would save about “21 cows, 14 sheep, 12 hogs, and 1400 chickens from being slaughtered… [and] save 1 acre of trees a year from being cut down. ” (An Inside Look At Slaughter Houses) There are many videos that show animal cruelty such as the animals being cut to pieces while still alive, drowned in hot water, stunned with electricity, overcrowded, burned alive and they let them bleed and suffer for a very long time before they are killed.
Some are even very sick, diseased from exposure to different elements, and are definitely not fit for slaughtering.In the slaughterhouses, the animal should have access to water, food, veterinary services and protection form natural elements but these animals are not provided with even these basic necessities. Since there have never been any jurisdiction as to how animals should be slaughtered they just kill them and treat them badly because they know they are going to die either way. The commit acts that can get a man a life sentence in jail or put to death to animals but yet they are not punished for it.The poor animals cannot be saved due to the high demand for meat everywhere in the world and they die at such a high rate at the slaughterhouse and their body is still used for meat. They die from the conditions, treatment, and environment early and then are just used for meat no matter how unhealthy they look.
The people who kill these animals give them absolutely nothing to elucidate their pain and they suffer for such a long time before reaching a very painful death. A woman once said that “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone in the world would be a vegetarian”. An Inside Look At Slaughter Houses) Most vegans and vegetarians convert due to watching just one of these videos just like Walter Rave did. As much as living a meatless life sounds painful, it is better to live a vegan life. Some good reasons are animal products are unnecessary, what you eat is a learned habit, much healthier to avoid meat and dairy products, much more environmentally friendly to eat a vegan diet, feed more people on a plant diet than animal based one, using animals is incredibly cruel, religion/ spiritual reasons such as “Thou shalt not kill. “, it saves money, reduces National debt, and vegan food tastes great! (Reasons to be VEGAN) Most people also believe that we do not need animal products to feed or clothe ourselves and that the practice itself is cruel and inconsiderate.
The worst part is that after an animal has been abused it takes forever for them to recuperate and be able to fit back into society. Most people believe that animals are dumb just because of the size of their brain or how they act but “We can’t judge an animal’s intelligence by its instinctive behaviors” (Tinberg 26). If we do that, then imagine how many animals, including humans, would be considered unintelligent.Luckily, most animal behaviors “changes as they grow up” so they can always rehabilitate themselves with the world even after the worst case of animal abuse if it was done to them young. If it was done to them while they were older, then it would be harder for them to re-associate themselves with people. Scientists have observed that “Certain behavior patterns are as thoroughly inbred as any physical attribute, [and] others are wholly acquired” (Tinberg 137). This comes to show that even if the animal is known to be a sociable animal due to its breed, after certain treatment over a period of time, it will become fierce and violent.A study conducted on a turtle helped to prove how animals learn over time and how it affects their behavior.
He repeated it many times and “After turning a light on and touching turtle on head ‘the turtle will learn to associate the light with a touch on head and will withdraw in his shell as soon as it sees the light’” (Freedman 80-81). This experiment shows that an animal learned to associate one thing with another and therefore if the animal saw a person and then felt pain, soon it would learn not to trust people anymore due to the pain it felt from just a repeated experience.A way for us ordinary citizens to help animal cruelty is to know who to call when you see animal cruelty so that they may help (do not get directly involved), get to know and look out for the animals in your community and neighborhood, make the call when you see something and do not be afraid to do so, when you call, provide as many details as possible, fight for the passage of anti-cruelty laws and join or donate to local services, set a good example for others if you own a pet, help kids who are younger than you to understand how to treat animals, and starting a neighborhood watch program for cruelty in your area (Top 10 Ways to Prevent Animal Cruelty). All of these are some ways we can give to our community so that lives can be saved.
Animals’ lives are as precious as any other living thing since we depend on them so much for food and clothing and travel so we should try and protect them before they all go extinct or become endangered. Even though there are laws such as the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, we can still help our local animals by looking out for them and reporting if you see any cruelty in your area. You can also become vegan and protests against the use of fur and the murder of animals for silly purposes such as fashion and just for the fun of just watching a fight.Saving animals from the slaughterhouse can be easy as long as you become vegan or just consume a small amount of meat then you can save many lives from being subjected to torture.
Animal cruelty is one of the most common forms of cruelty in today’s society and we can help reduce it with small efforts such as monthly donations and adopting a pet from a shelter. We can moo-ve towards a better, safer, healthier future. Works Cited “ASPCA | Jobs. ” ASPCA | The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. ASPCA, n.
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