Should the torture of an innocent animal go unpunished? No, it should not; the real question is to what extent should the perpetrator be punished? The most basic definition of animal abuse is the intentional act of inflicting physical pain, suffering, or death on an animal; this includes monstrous neglect (the act of withholding food and water) that causes an animal to suffer, die, or be put in imminent danger of death. Currently, animal cruelty offenders are not punished to the extent that some believe they should be. Animal cruelty should receive mandatory jail time because the abuse towards an innocent animal is deemed inhumane and oftentimes is a precursor for violence against humans.
It is shown that lawmakers do not view animal abuse
There are common cases of animal abuse in everyday life, such as: hunting, poaching, factory farming, rodeos, and the industries that offer authentic fur, leather, feathers, and wool. The industries that use authentic animal hide have no excuse for not finding a suitable substitute. Honestly, there is no reason why the skin of animal is to be used in clothing other than the fact that is considered “fasion.” There are also cases of animal abuse that are celebrated as a cherished tradition. For example, the sport fox-hunting is very popular; families often train the younger generation in the proper technique of fox-hunting so that the tradition may live on (Nurse, 2013). Although it is an important tradition to some, the torture and death of an animal is nothing to be commended or celebrated. In Margit Livingston’s article "Desecrating the Ark: Animal Abuse and The Law 's Role in Prevention" she goes on to point out how animal abuse is often viewed as an owner’s right of exercising dominion or even entertainment. Furthermore, she states that, “today, only a scant majority of state jurisdictions provide for felony-level penalties for intentional animal abuse.” Because animal abuse has been viewed so lowly throughout history, there are not proper laws in place to prevent such atrocities from occurring. The abuse of innocent creatures is not an “exercise of dominion.” Humans have no right to treat earth’s other inhabitants’ lives as if they are worth less than a human’s life. Proper procedures need to be put into action in order to protect the weak and defenseless from those that are stronger (Livingston,
Cruel and unusual punishment can happen to any one for example animals like on some commercials about dogs being hurt, or mistreated, or not fed then they are laying dead. If people don’t want to take care of the responsibility then give the dog away no torture it to death.
Gunnarson, Helen W. "Animal law comes into its own: as Americans place more value -
There should be a penalty to harming an animal or keeping it in an uncomfortable environment. Is there a difference in harming a pet and animal experimentation? Because harming a pet and animal experimentation have different consequences. They both are harmful to animals and in most cases animal testing is more brutal and will cause more pain to the animals. Michael Walsh, a reporter for Yahoo news, stated that in May of 2016 Ohio passed a law that made it “a fifth-degree felony to knowingly harm a pet by inflicting pain or depriving it of food, water, or shelter.” He also states that “Under Ohio law, a fifth-degree felony is punishable by six to twelve months in jail and a $2,500 fine.” These laws make it so that it is okay to hurt, abuse, and deprive animals that are being tested on but not okay when done to animals that are used pets. The harmful treatment of animals, whether in a lab or in a home, should be punished in the same manner because hurting animals in any situation is wrong. Many people argue and say that testing on animals is different because it benefits humans. It tests if popular products are safe for everyone to use. Monkeys and mice are often used to test products. This is because the DNA of mice and monkeys are very similar to humans. It makes sense to test animals that closely related to humans because it can help people determine whether the product is
For thousands of years scientist have been performing vivisections on animals to find information on new chemicals, drugs, and vaccines. Vivisection is when scientist perform dissections among living animals mostly for the purpose of educating and retrieving information. Experimenting on animals has become the tool that has helped us comprehend the body functions of an animal and how a disease transforms the bodily functions, but over the years it’s caused animal rights activists to question the usefulness and the sincerity of using animals for this purpose. Although animal research has been helpful in the past, it is morally wrong in the sense that experimenting on animals is not the only way to collect information. There are other alternatives
“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...
There are many animal owners that believe abusing it is the only way to control and train it (Nine Reasons for Animal Abuse). This not only includes animals that are pets, it includes the ones that are in the performing business (Nine Reasons for Animal Abuse). Trainers that do not properly know how to get the animal to act as they want may result in using physical harm to initiate fear, and this will “teach” the animal to do as it is told, so it does not have to risk being abused all over again. As another reason as to why a person may not think of animal cruelty as something serious is due to what the philosopher Raymond G. Frey of Bowling Green State University had to say on the issue. His argument is based around his belief that because animals are not human, they do not have moral rights (The Animal Rights Debate). He also goes on to say that their lives do not have the same moral values as the lives of humans due to another belief that he possesses, which is thinking an animal does not undergo the same emotional and intellectual experiences as a human would (The Animal Rights Debate). While there are some that do not believe that animal cruelty is a serious issue because they have placed their trust in what Raymond G. Fray has said, there are others that simply think animals are a lower form of life (Missimer). These people conclude that
According to Pet Finder, “People who commit even the most heinous crimes against animals are often not prosecuted to the full extent of the law. In states where animal cruelty is considered a misdemeanor, individuals who commit intentional cruelty crimes against animals can receive, at most one year in jail and 1,000 dollar fin. However, perpetrators often receive no more than probation.
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.
The abuse that animals endure at human hands is heartbreaking, sickening, and infuriating. Animals are just as delicate as humans, so why not abuse us too? Animal lives should be just important as ours. No animals should be killed or abused for testing, entertaining, clothing, or hoarding. Every year, millions of animals are being killed and torture for testing.
Imagine being beaten to near death and being painfully skinned alive. This scenario seems as if it would only happen in a horror film, but in reality it occurs on a daily basis. Looking at a fur coat through a store window or in a glossy magazine one may not realize that animals were beaten, electrocuted, crammed in filthy wire cages, or even hanged just to produce a simple fur coat. Every year millions of animals are treated wrongly and even killed for the fur on their backs. Society may think twice about wearing the corpse of an animal when one knows what really happens in the name of fashion. An immeasurable amount of suffering went into every fur trimmed jacket, leather belt, or wool sweater hanging in ones closet. To eradicate the unnecessary suffering of animals for fashion, wearing fur must be made illegal.
Animals should not be kept in captivity for any reason unless they have been harmed and need to receive treatment but they should be released as soon as they are healthy and capable of taking care of themselves again. The use of a captive animal for research, education, or entertainment is just wrong no creature deserves to have their life taken away for our benefit. Would you want to be captured and put in a tiny box or a fake little ecosystem, or abused and tortured because apparently that’s the only possible way to train an animal? How about just knowing that your real life is over and now all you get to do is put on a show for people? That is what we put these animals through for our entertainment we tear children away from their parents. In what way is that right? It’s just like kidnapping we put humans in jail for that but only when it’s another human. People act like just because they aren’t human that its ok and they lie to themselves telling themselves that its okay and that the animal will be taken care of, fed, and have a nice little “fake” forest or desert to live in. Just think of it as having a zoo full of humans, or stealing other humans to make profit or teach someone something new by doing something totally wrong and unethical.
... of the pain and suffering for fashion purposes. It is unethical to have an animal born into a world of fear; they deserve to live free as they are supposed to. Humanistic theory states that every person has good in them; supporting fur farms by wearing real animal fur helps go against this theory. However, if people would stop wearing fur, it would help animals from having an insensible death. “In 1987, 4.12 million minks were slaughtered on fur farms but, in 1999, about half the amount of minks were killed for their skins which is a tremendous change” (OCPA). As seen by these statistics, the fur industry is already beginning to decline in their usage of animal skin. This is a good way to go and people need to let the fur industry officially shut down for good. It will save millions of animals’ lives every year and will also help restore the goodness in humankind.
If you were an animal you would like to be in captivity you would feel like running around the grass plains in Africa with peace instead of living in a ‘prison’ being gawked by random strangers? We must treat them equally as they are also living creatures. Having animals in captivity is bad for their health not only losing their natural instincts the will have stress, shorter life span, repetitive movements, becoming lazier….etc they are all because of us! Have you heard of anti-depressant? People is using even drugs and violence to animals to make them calm down, do you think this is the right way to treat animals?
To conclude this paper then, after reviewing the reasons for being opposed to assigning rights to non-human animals I am still faithfully for the idea. There is no justification for the barbaric and insensitive ways to which we have been treating the non-human animals with over the decades. As I stated before, they are living creatures just as we are, they have families, emotions and struggles of their own without the ones we inflict on them. So then where does this leave us? Of course it is a complicated mater, but none the less non-human animals should be protected with rights against them being used as machines, for food, for their skins, their wool, and all cases in which they are being abused.
All creatures deserve life free from fear and pain. Animal abuse can be intentional harm or failure to take care of an animal. Either way, the animal can suffer tremendously. Animal abuse is a problem that many don't pay attention to. This is because people are not being informed of the kind of abuse that pets go through.