Literature Review
Abstract
Animal abuse or in other word animal cruelty is a human infliction of harm upon non-human animals for purposes other than protect themselves. Sometimes people do not even realize they mistreat with their pet. Unfortunately, before people buy a pet, they do not really think about how much responsibility it is and they just leave the dog in the cage or forget to play with them. Unfortunately, there are always new types of animal abuse from year to year. For instance, lab testing, caging and animal violence. Right now, millions of mice, rats, dogs, cats and other types of animals are locked inside cages in laboratories across the world. This literature review will inform people about different types of animal abuse and how to prevent it. This paper is going to give more information about understanding why people are so cruel to innocent animals.
Animal Abuse: A Review for the Literature
Animal abuse has been a big problem all over the World. It can be either deliberate abuse or simply the failure to take care of animals. Either way animals can suffer really badly. There are so many people out there, who go get a pet to their kids and later they do not even take care of it. However, this case counts as an animal abuse too. According to the Humane Society of the United States website, people with emotional problems more likely to hurt animals. However, this can be very dangerous because who can shoot, hit or set animals on fire, it can hurt other humans too. One of the worst animal abuse at homes, when people just leave their pets in the cage. They forget to feed them or give them water. These animals can suffer as bad as animals who are harmed on purpose. Fortunately, all U.S states has their own laws against animal cruelty because farmers and researchers can do cruel thing to animals that other people cannot do legally. In order to better understand animal abuse in the United States, four important questions need to be considered:
1. Why people are so cruel to animals?
2. What are the most common animal cruelties?
3. What can people do against animal abuse?
4. Do animals have the right to live?
Why people are so cruel to animals?
People can be selfish and heartless with animals. Most of us would not even think that animals can be hurt too like us, humans. Unfortunately, there are so many psychopaths in the world who are angry so they let out their frustration by hurting animals. These people can be dangerous because if they can hurt animals probably they are going to hurt people too sooner or later. In my primary research, Alice Coy (one of my close friend) thinks people are harmful with animals because they try to release their anger. When people get mad they lose their mind and they are not aware of what they are doing. At this time it is easy to blame our pets, so we just hit or kick them. Another example why people are so cruel to animals is in many families are parents are violent with the kids or pets, so later the child abuse victims are going to express their suffering through house pets or other animals.(www.peta.org, 2014) Another easy explanation is people do not have connection with the nature. There are so many people who just do not feel any connection to the animals at all. There animal lovers and of course there are people who do not really care about them at all. Thus, these people are not going to get emotional if they hurt an animal or they have to run over a wild animal. Moreover, cock-fighting and dog-fighting are often influenced by culture or religion. We can talk about why people are so cruel all day but we will never get a perfect answer. There are always so many different reasons, and everybody knows that how crazy this world is and what people are capable to do with innocent animals. Let’s just think about it, if people can hurt each other, why would it be so hard for them to hurt a dog or cat?
What are the most common animal abuses?
We would not even think that but animal testing in laboratories is one of the worst animals abuse. A lot of cosmetics companies use different types of animals to test their product before they start to sell it. The fact is, animals and humans are have so much similarities. We have the same skin, eyes. This means animals are going to get the same skin or eye reaction from cosmetics as humans. Thus, people in laboratories can test different shampoos, mascaras, body lotions or other cosmetics on animals. The most common animals are mice, rats, rabbits and guinea pigs. But they still test on dogs, cats and fishes. Figure 1.1 is a pie chart what illustrate the percentages of animals used by laboratories. As we can see 60.96% of the animals is mice then the second highest number is the rats and then cold-blooded animals and rabbits. Over one hundred million animals are subjected annually to testing. There is a test called Draize eye test what is done for eye irritancy and the damage chemicals will cause in the eyes. During this test, people are going to put the chemical into the rabbit’s eye and then they will observe it. The rabbit may suffer consequences such as bleeding or blindness and the end of the test the rabbit may be killed. There are so many other animals testing, for instance they use guinea pigs to test shaving spots if it is going to itch. At the end of the testing almost every animal is going to be killed. However, most of the animals are hope to make human life better and to progress of medicines. Experiments and research are also maintained to acquire more knowledge and try to find more solutions and medications for diseases. Moreover, many of these animals bred in laboratories or in special companies. There are even a pet store where companies can buy animals for testing. They are breeding these animals just for testing. All in all, there so many pros and cons to animal testing. One of the biggest pro is people get to know more knowledge of diseases. For example, when people were testing cures on rabbits, they found the distemper of leukemia. On the other hand, the animal is going to suffer and going to be mistreated during these testing.
The other serious animal abuse is animal fights. In animal fights, people usually make two animals to fight against each other until one of them loose its life. People think that this is fun and entertaining. The most common animal fights are dogfighting and cock-fighting, however, the victim can be any kind of animal. In dogfighting there are two dogs put into the ring to fight till the death. Most of the time American pit-bull terrier dogs are fighting and they breed to fight from the beginning of their lives. These dogs sometimes get steroids so they can grow bigger muscles and get stronger. These dogs have powerful jaws, so they can hurt each other easily. They can even break bones with their jaws. Dogs used in these events die usually of blood loss, shock or exhaustion. Moreover, sometimes owners of the dog punish the dog if they are still alive after a fight. Most of the times owners torture the animals with hanging or shooting them. Cock-fighting is really common animal abuse all over the world. In cockfighting people put a razor on the chickens’ legs, usually on the left one. After this they are going to put two chickens in the ring and they are going to fight till the death. Afterwards, people just throw the birds away like trash. People who attend this event, they consider it as a family entertainment. Cockfighting is a really dangerous event because usually it goes hand in hand gambling, drug dealing, illegal gun sales and murder. Cockfighting is illegal in all states and every states should strengthen their laws against it.
What can people do against animal abuse?
First of all, people cannot do a lot against animal fights because heartless people are always going to find a way to be cruel to animals. People usually hold these awful events at discrete locations where they only know. However, if someone sees animal fighting he should alert his local law enforcement agency and urge officials to contact The HSUS for help. HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) is the largest and most powerful animal protection organization in the Unites States. Since 1954, Humane Society of the United States are fighting to protect the animals more and get more strict laws. This organization takes care of every kind of animal and they try to reduce suffering and create a social life for animals who were abused or lost. Moreover, they work to enforce existing laws, educate people about animal issues. Fortunately, there are so many laws all over the United States to protect animals. The American Society of for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is an organization in the United States that try to prevent animal cruelty. They provide so many laws in every states, however, they are always different from state to state. The figure above shows us the states which ranked highest in animal protection. These states are the pink ones and the black states are the lowest in animal protection ones. According to SPCA of Texas, there are two kind of laws that protect animals in Texas: civil laws and criminal laws. In a civil case if the judge rules that the person was cruel to the animal then the judge can take away his animal and the fine him. If it is a criminal case then the person are going to be fined or going to go to jail or both. Texas criminal laws only protect domesticated animals, such as house pets or wild animals they were previously captured. However, civil law does not make a difference between domesticated and wild animals. Compared to other states, Texas’ animal cruelty laws are different because the laws exclude circus animals, wild animals and animals used in experiments. However, animal fighting is a crime in Texas. Thus, if somebody is caught at an animal fight event then he can go to jail for two year or he has to pay $10,000.
Do animals have the right to live?
It is always going to be a question if animals have right to live. People sometimes get confused with animals right and animal welfare. Animal right is the belief that animals have right to be free of human use and abuse. Basically, humans cannot use animals for their own purpose. Animal welfare means humans can use animals as long as the animals are treated humanely. There is also a confusion about animal right because lot of people think that animal right means to put animals above humans. However, of course it is impossible because humans and animals do not have the same morality. Almost everybody agree with the fact that animals are absolutely not equal with humans. There are so many discussion about animal rights. Somebody says God put animals on the Earth to use them. Moreover they are not intelligent and not as important as humans. On the other hand, others agree with that using animals to test cosmetics is so unnecessary and we just waste our species. There are so many species in danger all over the word. And if one specie is going to disappear then it is going to mess up the food chain. We have to think about the wild animals too when we cut down too many trees in the woods or we pollute the water and the air. According to my primary research, Alice Coy said animals have the right to live as well as humans. Animals have the same heart beat and they have feelings. They express themselves on different way but that does not mean that their bodies do not hurt when we hit them or use cosmetic on them.
Conclusion
Animals are always going to be in danger. We can try hard enough, however people are always going to hurt them or test cosmetics on them. Animal abuse has been a big a problem all over the world but fortunately there are so many laws with what we could reduce animal cruelty. The Humane Society of the United States is the biggest and most powerful animal protecting organization. It helps to prevent animal cruelty and tries to make more strict existing laws. Whenever people see animal abuse they can call the local law enforcement because who are capable to hurt animals that should appear on court. Animal abuse is a crime, where animals suffer because of humans. Even if people think they are just animals, we do not have the right to hurt them with no purpose. Animals can suffer really badly like humans and they have feelings too.
References
·The Humane Society of the United States. (2014) Animals, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/
·People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (2014) About PETA, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.peta.org/about-peta/learn-about-peta/website-policies/peta-online-community-terms-of-use-agreement/
·National Anti-Vivisection Society. (2013) EU report indicates a decrease in the number animals used in research, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.navs.org/european-union-report-indicates-a-decrease-in-the-number-of-animals-used-in-research
·American Anti-Vivisection Society. (2014) Blinded for Beauty, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.aavs.org/site/c.bkLTKfOSLhK6E/b.6457329/k.CCC6/Blinded_for_Beauty.htm#.U0h3qqIWciN
·The SPCA of Texas. (2014) Texas Animal Cruelty Laws, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.spca.org/page.aspx?pid=316
·About. (2014) Animal rights, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://animalrights.about.com/od/animalrights101/a/What-Are-Animal-Rights.htm
·MSPCA. (2012) Cruelty Prevention, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.mspca.org/programs/cruelty-prevention/animal-cruelty-information/
·ASPCA. (2014) Top 10 Ways to Prevent Animal Cruelty, Retrieved April 10, from http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/report-animal-cruelty/top-10-ways-to-prevent-animal-cruelty
Survey
Name: Alice Coy
1. Why people are so cruel to animals?
- In my opinion, people are cruel to animals because they try to release their anger. When they are angry they lose their mind and they cannot think about how bad they can hurt an animal.
2. Have you ever witnessed animal cruelty? If yes, what did you do?
- Fortunately, I haven’t.
3. Do you think animal have right to live free?
- Of course, animals have beating hearts like us humans. They have the right to live free without being scared because we humans are hurting them. Unfortunately, we do not understand them but that does not mean that they do not suffer when we do not take care of them.
4. Do you think animal cruelty is a crime?
- Yes it is definitely a crime. We can hurt animals just because we are angry.
Animal abuse or in other word animal cruelty is a human infliction of harm upon non-human animals for purposes other than protect themselves. Sometimes people do not even realize they mistreat with their pet. Unfortunately, before people buy a pet, they do not really think about how much responsibility it is and they just leave the dog in the cage or forget to play with them. Unfortunately, there are always new types of animal abuse from year to year. For instance, lab testing, caging and animal violence. Right now, millions of mice, rats, dogs, cats and other types of animals are locked inside cages in laboratories across the world. This literature review will inform people about different types of animal abuse and how to prevent it. This paper is going to give more information about understanding why people are so cruel to innocent animals.
Animal Abuse: A Review for the Literature
Animal abuse has been a big problem all over the World. It can be either deliberate abuse or simply the failure to take care of animals. Either way animals can suffer really badly. There are so many people out there, who go get a pet to their kids and later they do not even take care of it. However, this case counts as an animal abuse too. According to the Humane Society of the United States website, people with emotional problems more likely to hurt animals. However, this can be very dangerous because who can shoot, hit or set animals on fire, it can hurt other humans too. One of the worst animal abuse at homes, when people just leave their pets in the cage. They forget to feed them or give them water. These animals can suffer as bad as animals who are harmed on purpose. Fortunately, all U.S states has their own laws against animal cruelty because farmers and researchers can do cruel thing to animals that other people cannot do legally. In order to better understand animal abuse in the United States, four important questions need to be considered:
1. Why people are so cruel to animals?
2. What are the most common animal cruelties?
3. What can people do against animal abuse?
4. Do animals have the right to live?
Why people are so cruel to animals?
People can be selfish and heartless with animals. Most of us would not even think that animals can be hurt too like us, humans. Unfortunately, there are so many psychopaths in the world who are angry so they let out their frustration by hurting animals. These people can be dangerous because if they can hurt animals probably they are going to hurt people too sooner or later. In my primary research, Alice Coy (one of my close friend) thinks people are harmful with animals because they try to release their anger. When people get mad they lose their mind and they are not aware of what they are doing. At this time it is easy to blame our pets, so we just hit or kick them. Another example why people are so cruel to animals is in many families are parents are violent with the kids or pets, so later the child abuse victims are going to express their suffering through house pets or other animals.(www.peta.org, 2014) Another easy explanation is people do not have connection with the nature. There are so many people who just do not feel any connection to the animals at all. There animal lovers and of course there are people who do not really care about them at all. Thus, these people are not going to get emotional if they hurt an animal or they have to run over a wild animal. Moreover, cock-fighting and dog-fighting are often influenced by culture or religion. We can talk about why people are so cruel all day but we will never get a perfect answer. There are always so many different reasons, and everybody knows that how crazy this world is and what people are capable to do with innocent animals. Let’s just think about it, if people can hurt each other, why would it be so hard for them to hurt a dog or cat?
What are the most common animal abuses?
We would not even think that but animal testing in laboratories is one of the worst animals abuse. A lot of cosmetics companies use different types of animals to test their product before they start to sell it. The fact is, animals and humans are have so much similarities. We have the same skin, eyes. This means animals are going to get the same skin or eye reaction from cosmetics as humans. Thus, people in laboratories can test different shampoos, mascaras, body lotions or other cosmetics on animals. The most common animals are mice, rats, rabbits and guinea pigs. But they still test on dogs, cats and fishes. Figure 1.1 is a pie chart what illustrate the percentages of animals used by laboratories. As we can see 60.96% of the animals is mice then the second highest number is the rats and then cold-blooded animals and rabbits. Over one hundred million animals are subjected annually to testing. There is a test called Draize eye test what is done for eye irritancy and the damage chemicals will cause in the eyes. During this test, people are going to put the chemical into the rabbit’s eye and then they will observe it. The rabbit may suffer consequences such as bleeding or blindness and the end of the test the rabbit may be killed. There are so many other animals testing, for instance they use guinea pigs to test shaving spots if it is going to itch. At the end of the testing almost every animal is going to be killed. However, most of the animals are hope to make human life better and to progress of medicines. Experiments and research are also maintained to acquire more knowledge and try to find more solutions and medications for diseases. Moreover, many of these animals bred in laboratories or in special companies. There are even a pet store where companies can buy animals for testing. They are breeding these animals just for testing. All in all, there so many pros and cons to animal testing. One of the biggest pro is people get to know more knowledge of diseases. For example, when people were testing cures on rabbits, they found the distemper of leukemia. On the other hand, the animal is going to suffer and going to be mistreated during these testing.
The other serious animal abuse is animal fights. In animal fights, people usually make two animals to fight against each other until one of them loose its life. People think that this is fun and entertaining. The most common animal fights are dogfighting and cock-fighting, however, the victim can be any kind of animal. In dogfighting there are two dogs put into the ring to fight till the death. Most of the time American pit-bull terrier dogs are fighting and they breed to fight from the beginning of their lives. These dogs sometimes get steroids so they can grow bigger muscles and get stronger. These dogs have powerful jaws, so they can hurt each other easily. They can even break bones with their jaws. Dogs used in these events die usually of blood loss, shock or exhaustion. Moreover, sometimes owners of the dog punish the dog if they are still alive after a fight. Most of the times owners torture the animals with hanging or shooting them. Cock-fighting is really common animal abuse all over the world. In cockfighting people put a razor on the chickens’ legs, usually on the left one. After this they are going to put two chickens in the ring and they are going to fight till the death. Afterwards, people just throw the birds away like trash. People who attend this event, they consider it as a family entertainment. Cockfighting is a really dangerous event because usually it goes hand in hand gambling, drug dealing, illegal gun sales and murder. Cockfighting is illegal in all states and every states should strengthen their laws against it.
What can people do against animal abuse?
First of all, people cannot do a lot against animal fights because heartless people are always going to find a way to be cruel to animals. People usually hold these awful events at discrete locations where they only know. However, if someone sees animal fighting he should alert his local law enforcement agency and urge officials to contact The HSUS for help. HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) is the largest and most powerful animal protection organization in the Unites States. Since 1954, Humane Society of the United States are fighting to protect the animals more and get more strict laws. This organization takes care of every kind of animal and they try to reduce suffering and create a social life for animals who were abused or lost. Moreover, they work to enforce existing laws, educate people about animal issues. Fortunately, there are so many laws all over the United States to protect animals. The American Society of for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is an organization in the United States that try to prevent animal cruelty. They provide so many laws in every states, however, they are always different from state to state. The figure above shows us the states which ranked highest in animal protection. These states are the pink ones and the black states are the lowest in animal protection ones. According to SPCA of Texas, there are two kind of laws that protect animals in Texas: civil laws and criminal laws. In a civil case if the judge rules that the person was cruel to the animal then the judge can take away his animal and the fine him. If it is a criminal case then the person are going to be fined or going to go to jail or both. Texas criminal laws only protect domesticated animals, such as house pets or wild animals they were previously captured. However, civil law does not make a difference between domesticated and wild animals. Compared to other states, Texas’ animal cruelty laws are different because the laws exclude circus animals, wild animals and animals used in experiments. However, animal fighting is a crime in Texas. Thus, if somebody is caught at an animal fight event then he can go to jail for two year or he has to pay $10,000.
Do animals have the right to live?
It is always going to be a question if animals have right to live. People sometimes get confused with animals right and animal welfare. Animal right is the belief that animals have right to be free of human use and abuse. Basically, humans cannot use animals for their own purpose. Animal welfare means humans can use animals as long as the animals are treated humanely. There is also a confusion about animal right because lot of people think that animal right means to put animals above humans. However, of course it is impossible because humans and animals do not have the same morality. Almost everybody agree with the fact that animals are absolutely not equal with humans. There are so many discussion about animal rights. Somebody says God put animals on the Earth to use them. Moreover they are not intelligent and not as important as humans. On the other hand, others agree with that using animals to test cosmetics is so unnecessary and we just waste our species. There are so many species in danger all over the word. And if one specie is going to disappear then it is going to mess up the food chain. We have to think about the wild animals too when we cut down too many trees in the woods or we pollute the water and the air. According to my primary research, Alice Coy said animals have the right to live as well as humans. Animals have the same heart beat and they have feelings. They express themselves on different way but that does not mean that their bodies do not hurt when we hit them or use cosmetic on them.
Conclusion
Animals are always going to be in danger. We can try hard enough, however people are always going to hurt them or test cosmetics on them. Animal abuse has been a big a problem all over the world but fortunately there are so many laws with what we could reduce animal cruelty. The Humane Society of the United States is the biggest and most powerful animal protecting organization. It helps to prevent animal cruelty and tries to make more strict existing laws. Whenever people see animal abuse they can call the local law enforcement because who are capable to hurt animals that should appear on court. Animal abuse is a crime, where animals suffer because of humans. Even if people think they are just animals, we do not have the right to hurt them with no purpose. Animals can suffer really badly like humans and they have feelings too.
References
·The Humane Society of the United States. (2014) Animals, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/
·People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (2014) About PETA, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.peta.org/about-peta/learn-about-peta/website-policies/peta-online-community-terms-of-use-agreement/
·National Anti-Vivisection Society. (2013) EU report indicates a decrease in the number animals used in research, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.navs.org/european-union-report-indicates-a-decrease-in-the-number-of-animals-used-in-research
·American Anti-Vivisection Society. (2014) Blinded for Beauty, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.aavs.org/site/c.bkLTKfOSLhK6E/b.6457329/k.CCC6/Blinded_for_Beauty.htm#.U0h3qqIWciN
·The SPCA of Texas. (2014) Texas Animal Cruelty Laws, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.spca.org/page.aspx?pid=316
·About. (2014) Animal rights, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://animalrights.about.com/od/animalrights101/a/What-Are-Animal-Rights.htm
·MSPCA. (2012) Cruelty Prevention, Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://www.mspca.org/programs/cruelty-prevention/animal-cruelty-information/
·ASPCA. (2014) Top 10 Ways to Prevent Animal Cruelty, Retrieved April 10, from http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/report-animal-cruelty/top-10-ways-to-prevent-animal-cruelty
Survey
Name: Alice Coy
1. Why people are so cruel to animals?
- In my opinion, people are cruel to animals because they try to release their anger. When they are angry they lose their mind and they cannot think about how bad they can hurt an animal.
2. Have you ever witnessed animal cruelty? If yes, what did you do?
- Fortunately, I haven’t.
3. Do you think animal have right to live free?
- Of course, animals have beating hearts like us humans. They have the right to live free without being scared because we humans are hurting them. Unfortunately, we do not understand them but that does not mean that they do not suffer when we do not take care of them.
4. Do you think animal cruelty is a crime?
- Yes it is definitely a crime. We can hurt animals just because we are angry.