Animals play an important yet unique role in human society. Beyond providing food, clothing, and by-products, animals have contributed to society in many other ways. They are known as companion animals, who help a person enjoy life, and they also are service animals who assist people in living and work. While providing lots of wonderful things in human life, some often use animals entirely for their own benefit, and constantly forget that they are also living sentient beings themselves.
Humans have already established themselves as the dominant species, therefore placing animals below them, causing us to lose sight of the fact that animals play a vital role in our society. Most humans take advantage of animals’ lives every day and think nothing of it due to the thought of them being human’s property. This paper, will strive to inform you of the different types of animal cruelty, their effects on animals, and how we can begin to eradicate them.
Animal abuse can be categorized as animal cruelty. “Animal cruelty includes intentional, malicious acts of harm and less clear-cut situations where the needs of an animal are neglected.” (Gayle Shomer Brezicki ‘Fighting Animal Cruelty and Neglect’) Animal abuse can be physical, mental, sexual, and neglect. Physical abuse includes inflicting injuries or causing an animal unnecessary pain. Mental abuse can happen when an animal sustains repeated physical abuse, rejection, or even isolation.
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Sexual abuse occurs when a person participates in any sexual conduct with an animal that may or may not cause harm. Failure to provide adequate amounts of food, water, shelter, or veterinary care to an animal is considered neglect. Obviously, there are physical effects of abuse, including wounds, broken bones and physical inactivity due to pain or depression. Most animal cruelty laws cater only the noticeable physical harm that abused animals suffer, since it is hard to see the emotional effects of their abuse.
While physical effects are relatively short-term issues, the effects of mental abuse can cause suffering that lasts a long time or forever. Fortunately, there are ways that we can put an end to abuse and even prevent it from happening in the first place. You can start by being a responsible pet owner, being an example of kindness to other pets, intervene in and report animal cruelty, and demand stricter laws for the protection of animals. (‘Ways to prevent cruelty to animals’ ‘ 2019).
The first type of animal cruelty that will be discussed is called animal testing. More than 100 million animals suffer and die in the U.S. every year in cruel chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics tests as well as in medical training exercises and curiosity-driven medical experiments at universities. (‘The Truth about Animals Used for Experimentation’ 2010).
Right now there are millions of mice, rabbits, cats, primates, and other animals locked inside of cages all around the world. While they are suffering from pain, fear, loneliness, all they can do is sit and wait in fear not knowing when their next horrible procedure will happen. Sadly, animals endure a great deal of pain and suffering during these tests. Chemicals are dripped into their eyes, they are injected with harsh chemicals and pesticides, and tools are forced up their nostrils or down their throats.
Consequently, they become addicted and forced to inhale/ingest toxic substances, they are deafened, blinded, burned, and infected with disease viruses. And why do these things happen, you might ask? Well, according to PETA, “Companies use the fact that the products have been tested—rather than the actual test results—to support the claim that they are conscientious.” At the end of the day animals tests protect no one. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has noted that 95 percent of all drugs that are shown to be safe and effective in animal tests fail in human trials because they fail to work or are dangerous.
Even though a product may work on an animal, it does not prove it safe to be tested on humans. This is a very cruel practice and has to be stopped to ensure the safety of animals. However, there are numerous things each of us can do to prevent animal suffering and deaths. By buying cruelty-free products, donating only to charities that prohibits experiment on animals, requesting alternatives to animal dissection, demanding effective non-animal tests by government agencies and corporations, we can put a stop to these inhumane acts indefinitely.
The second type of animal abuse that will be discussed is animal fighting. Animal fighting is an inhumane Bloodsport fight between two or more animals who have been specifically bred and conditioned for the sport. They are forced to fight for the sole purpose of human entertainment, gambling, or sport. The main types of animal fights may include: Dogfighting, Cockfighting, and Hog-dog fighting. In dog fighting two dogs are put into rings or pits to fight until one dies or is badly injured. Cockfighting is a sport in which two roosters are specifically bred for aggression and are placed in small rings and are encouraged to fight to the death.
Hog-dog fighting occurs when dogs are put in a pen and timed for how quickly they can attack a feral hog whose tusks have been cut off. The attack on both animals may be fatal due to the dog may bite the hog or the hog may throw the dog into the air. Animal fighting is a cruel and fatal practice and the dogs forced to participate endure so much pain, neglect, and suffering.
According to Animal Legal Defense Fund, “They are often: forced to wear heavy chains and run on treadmills; left outside without shelter; fed steroids to increase muscle mass; fed stimulants to make them aggressive in a fight; fed narcotics so they don’t feel pain in a fight; starved to make them aggressive or so they can “make weight” in a contract fight; and subjected to cruel amateur ear cropping and treatment for fighting injuries. Females may be confined in “rape boxes” for breeding.” Dogfighting is one of the most heinous forms of animal cruelty. Animals that are put into this from birth go through the most trauma.
They are raised in isolation and taught to fight other animals to survive. They spend most of their lives on short, heavy chains, provided with little to no food, and abused and killed if they fail to win the fights. They are also given drugs, such as anabolic steroids to enhance their muscle mass and encourage aggressiveness. Although dogfighting is a felony in all 50 states, it occurs in every part of the country and happens every day, even as we speak. According to ‘The Criminal, Underground World of Dogfighting’ (2020), ‘Dogfighting is often associated with other forms of criminal activity including illegal gambling and possession of drugs and firearms.
By our estimate, there are tens of thousands of dogfighters in the U.S., forcing hundreds of thousands of dogs to train, fight, and suffer every year.’ Although we cannot prevent these acts indefinitely, thanks to the cruel people out there, there are always ways we can fight to prevent it from happening and stop it if we see it. You can start by reporting animal cruelty when you see it happening or suspect it’s happening, educate people on animal fighting and their effects, and even urge state legislators to upgrade the law in places where animal cruelty is not taken seriously.
The last two types of animal cruelty that will be discussed fur farming and animal hoarding. Animals need their fur coats more than we do. But on fur factory farms around the world, millions of rabbits, foxes, mink and other wild animals spend their entire lives in cramped cages, deprived of the ability to engage in natural behaviors—only to be crudely gassed or electrocuted at the end. In the wild, animals are caught in crippling leghold traps for days without food or water. These archaic traps are indiscriminate, often maiming and killing non-target animals, like threatened species and even pets—all this in the name of fashion. (“Going Fur-Free ”)
Fur farming is the practice of raising, breeding, or hunting certain animals for their fur. The most common types of animals that are used in this proccess are minks, foxes, rabbits, dogs and cats. Fur farming is a combination of both topics I’ve talked about before. It is a combination of abuse, neglect, and torture. Animals are bred and raised only to be tortured and killed for nothing but their fur. Wild animals are hunted, shot, hanged, and skinned alive for their fur.
