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Laws on animal cruelty essay
Laws on animal cruelty essay
Laws on animal cruelty essay
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You have all seen the distressing American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the ASPCA, commercials. Sarah McLachlan heartbreakingly belts out “In the Arms of an Angel” as photos of abused cats and dogs flash across your television screen, compelling you for your help. While there has been much progress in terms of protection of animals recently, thanks in part to organizations like the ASPCA, animal cruelty laws need to be altered because the laws are not strict enough to discourage abusers from repeating their crimes, animal cruelty has been linked to other types of violence, and many animal cruelty laws do not encompass all types of animal abuse.
Most people agree that the punishment should fit the crime; however, this is simply just not the case in relation to animal cruelty laws. These laws are tough on the animals and easy on the humans. In one court case, a man who abandoned nine dogs received only two year of probation, even though four of the dogs he abandoned in a sealed storage case died. How can our government expect to deter people from committing such heinous crimes when there are little to none repercussions? Even in the most severe cases, defendants can only be sentenced for up to five years for animal cruelty (Boyd 1). If you were to electrocute and murder ten puppies, helpless as newborn babies, that is the highest sentence you could receive--five years-- but if you did the same thing to ten people, you would spend your life in prison or maybe even be sentenced to death! We are not being punished by these laws; these laws are punishing the animals. Even worse, profit margins for activities such as dogfighting are so much higher than the cost of being caught, that there is a high rate of recidivism...
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...tores such as Petland purchase from puppy mills, and not enough government sanctions exist to protect these animals. Aside from puppy mills, there are many other cases where animals are being mistreated, but the laws have yet to catch up.
Many people may argue that animal cruelty laws should not be stricter because abuse to animals and abuse to humans are on an entirely different level; however, the numerous studies connecting the violence to animals with the violence to humans are indisputable proof that lenient animal cruelty laws are not only unethical but also dangerous. Ask your conscious what is the right thing to do, and when it tells you, write to your congressman and ask them to fight for helpless animals’ rights, and if you join organizations such as the ASPCA, perhaps together we can successfully end the suffering.
The modern fight for animal rights has been geared toward factory farms and the removal of animal testing and ag-gag laws. Protection for test animals and farm animals has become an important focus for many animal rights groups including ASPCA. The end of uncomfortable and inhumane treatment of animals is still a fight thousands are fighting
“A dog is not a thing. A thing is replaceable. A dog is not. A thing is disposable. A dog is not. A thing does not have a heart. A dog’s heart is bigger than any “thing” you can ever own.” -Elizabeth Parker. According to the ASPCA, a puppy mill can be defined as “a large-scale commercial dog breeding facility where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs” (Puppy Mills 1). Dogs are more than just items that are sold for profit, they are part of many people’s families. The way dogs are being treated in the mills is not the way one would want someone in your family to be treated. Because puppy mills do not care for the animal’s health, wellbeing, or safety they should be banned federally.
Four journalists named Helen Jones, Larry Andrews, Marcia Glaser, and Fred Myers thought it would be a good idea to create a nonprofit organization to help animals that have are treated cruelly by either abuse or when they are left alone. The Humane Society has been helping animals since November 24, 1954(2). Their mission since the beginning has been celebrating animals and confronting cruelty. There are a great number of things that the Humane Society has been doing for the animals, like saving them from people who want to harm them. The list of animals that the Humane Society helps is very long, because they don’t just help the household pets that you might have thought. The conditions of the Humane Society change due to the types of animals
In conclusion, the ASPCA is a significant, charitable organization that has taken a powerful stance towards anti-cruelty of all animals. Dating back to the 1860's and continuing to thrive today with new programs that reach out to community leaders, businesses, and lawmakers, all for the abandonment of cruel actions towards animals. Accolades to Henry Bergh for his diligence towards establishing laws to protect animals against violence, and more importantly for raising awareness of animal abuse, and the misuse of breeding. The ASPCA is a worthy cause, and its mission is valuable to all animal lovers in our nation.
Puppy mills are mass breeding facilities that show little to no care for animals. They are created so companies can breed animals to make purebreds. The animals are not well taken care of and many of them die from either disease or giving birth too many times in their life span. There should be laws and guidelines to regulate the operation of puppy mill facilities. Puppy mills bring torture to animals and need to be stopped.
Ascione’s (1993) definition of animal cruelty is defined as “socially unacceptable behavior that intentionally causes unnecessary pain, suffering, or distress to and/or death of an animal” exclusive of socially condoned behavior, such as legal hunting and certain agricultural and veterinary practices. Not all violent individuals have been previously cruel to animals but studies have shown that a great number of them have exhibited this behavior. A great majority of the literature calls for a better understandin...
On the other hand, just as there are laws there are many weak laws that have been enforced to protect animals from cruelty. As a matter of fact not only are the laws weak, but they are also rarely enforced. The reason being is because police officers and public presecutors frequently view animal cru...
Animals are used today for many sources of protection, food, clothing, transportation, sports, entertainment, and labor, but millions of these animals die each year from abuse. “Most of the reasons that people give for denying animals rights are: animals do not have souls, god gave humans dominion over the animals, humans are intellectually superior to animals, humans are intellectually superior to animals, animals do not reason, think, or feel pain like humans do, animals are a natural resource to used as humans see fit, and animals kill each other” (Evans). It all started in the nineteenth century, when people began abusing animals by beating them, feeding them poorly, providing them with no shelter or poor shelter, left to die if they were sick or old, or by cruel sports. Most of the organized efforts to improve human treatment of animals all started in England. Around the 1800s, there was signs of rising concern for animal welfare in the United States.
Countless lives locked away in cages and forgotten about have overwhelmed our society, it has left blood stains on our history as a species and if history has taught us anything, it’s that we have a choice to change our ways of adjusting to situations. A war which was fought in pursuit of ending such criminal means, yet we as human beings do little to nothing to end the horrific crimes of animal deaths in shelters. It is no secret that this world has become infused with problems that have extended from one side of the globe to the other. Amongst these problems lies a terrible truth: nearly every year, sums of almost eight million cats and dogs have been placed in shelters around the world. Out of these vast numbers, half will be euthanized; that equals to one animal being put down every 8 seconds. Animals that are not adopted are kept in shelters until they find a home. Most of these shelters do not have enough space or resources to care for the animal. Only 15% of dogs and 2% of cats that enter animal shelters are reunited with their owners. The majority of pets are obtained from acquaintances and family members. Twenty-six percent of dogs are purchased from breeders, 20 to 30 percent of cats and dogs are adopted from shelters and rescues, and 2 to 10 percent are purchased from pet shops. In addition, only 56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. The 10% of the animals received by shelters have been spayed or neutered, while 78 percent of dogs and 88 percent of cats are not spayed or neutered, in 2009 Statistics from animal shelters in 55 counties in WV (West Virginia) shows that nearly 54% of all animals entering shelters are euthanized, The euthanasia rates ranged from the lowest at 5% to the highe...
Should animals have to go through pain and suffering? Should they have to go without food and/or water? The answer is no. Animal abuse happens everyday and it happens because people are barbarous or because they don’t know how to take the best care of an animal that they have. Whatever the reason it’s still not right and will never be okay. This paper will cover a brief history of animal abuse, the statistics, the signs of animal abuse, and what can be done to stop animal abuse. Animal abuse needs to end for the animals that can’t speak for themselves.
“There can be many reason for animal cruelty, like any other form of violence, is often committed by a person who feels powerless, unnoticed, or under control of others. Some who are cruel to animals copy acts what they have seen or that have been done to them, others see harming an animal as a safe way to get revenge against--or threaten-- someone who cares about that animal”. (“Animal… Statistics”) Concerns towards abusing animals have gone up in the past. Although there are not many cases on animal abuse, many have occurred. Abusers are charged with Criminal Animal Abuse and then sentenced to life in prison. Some animals that are physically abused are sometimes rescued by Animal Control, and are taken it to an animal shelter. However, many shelters have not had the space to keep the animals so the workers would have to put them down (Carol Roach). Researchers have shown that the main animals getting abused are dogs, chickens, horses, and livestock (“Animal...
Animal cruelty is everywhere even in the country where the animals are raised for food. People beat, torturer, and even give animals drugs to make them high. When people are convicted of animal cruelty they basically just get a slap of the wrist, the court system does not charge them for anything. The reason they do not charge people for this is because the court system does not see them as people, we see them as animals but they also feel like us. We cannot stop people from doing things to animals but people can give them more time for what they did, the law put people away for murdering other people because they are humans.
Every 60 seconds an animal is abused. Dogs, cats, horses, and many other types of animals are being neglected and tortured everyday, yet resulting in few and minor consequences for the perpetrators. Animal abuse is prevalent in the United States and has been an ongoing issue since the 1970's, and prior to. Society as a whole has chosen to avoid the facts and arguments about animal cruelty, because to some it is seen as acceptable and typical. It becomes much more frowned upon when people actually see the results of the cruelty, especially in the media.
For animal welfare and the causes of animal abuse new research has been created. Since animal abuse is fairly a new subject, new research is constantly brought up. In the Bahamas a study was done in the College of Bahamas, and it states that, “…dogs were equally likely to be considered members of the household in homes without domestic violence,” (Fielding 197). Homes with violence show that humans substitute human victims for animal victims. Animal rights activists are trying to break down symbolic boundaries betw...
One of the biggest unintentional ways of animal cruelty is a way that many people think is helpful but is actually has a negative impact on all of the animals involved, this idea is trying to take in more animals than one can handle, they have good intentions but this is harmful to animals because it forces them to live in unhealthy conditions. There are many new cases of animal hoarding every year, with over 250,000 animals falling victim. Puppy mills are large dog breeder’s that care more about making money than the wellbeing and health of the animals. Many dogs become ill with diseases such as kidney or heart disease as a result of the conditions in which they live. There are those people, however, that DO abuse animals on purpose.