Speak up and Educate

Animal Abuse

Just the other day, we heard the story of a pug that was abused. She was kept in a crate that was half her size. She could not stand up straight and even when she was rescued, the animal abuse left her with back and hip problems for the rest of her life. Luckily, society is stiffening punishments for animal abusers. In 2012 a man was sentenced to 6 months in jail for abusing his pug-mix, and in 2011 a man was sentenced to 5 years in prison for allowing the deaths of several Greyhounds.

What is Animal Abuse?

Animal abuse can come in many different forms. There are many times that animal abuse comes in the form of neglecting the animal that someone takes home as a pet. One instance would of animal abuse in the form of animal neglect would be if someone took an animal home as a pet and kept them out in the yard for ten hours a day without human supervision and without water. This can make the animal very uncomfortable, nervous and anxious. At other times, animal abuse comes in the form of harming an animal for a specific gain such as for wanting to eat them as food, or for wanting to feed them to other people and other animals as food. At other times, it is possible that animal abuse is done because the person or persons abusing the animal wants a specific part of their body such as tusks, fur or even horns to make a profit from selling products made by them. Sadly, there are times when animal abuse is committed because a human being is deriving some kind of pleasure by watching the abuse take place.

Two Perspectives on Animal Abuse

All animal lovers and animal owners know that animal abuse is a heart breaking sight. There are two broad ways in which this issue is approached by a majority of human beings across the world. The first viewpoint about animal abuse comes from the animal welfare viewpoint which basically states that there is nothing inherently wrong with using animal products for the benefit of humans, as long as it is done in a humane way that does not cause unnecessary harm, pain and suffering to the animals involved. This means that if you choose to use animals as food, wear animal fur as clothing and do research on animals, it is not considered to be animal abuse as long as you have not caused unnecessary harm, pain and suffering to the animals that you are using for human benefits. Many animal rights theorists disagree with this position because different people of different can really interpret the words unnecessary and humane in a wide variety of ways believes and personal opinions. Whereas some people might think that breeding cats and dogs for ale is perfectly fine, others might think that impregnating animals for sale is animal abuse. They believe that animal abuse can only be stopped completely if we stop thinking of animals as property so that there can never be animal abuse from using them as commodities.