Imagine you’re walking down the street strolling along and then you see a man across the street walking his dog. But he isn’t just walking his dog he’s yanking on the leash causing it to fall and be dragged. After a while of doing this over and over again, he eventually kicks the dog. ‘This is horrible,’ you think, you wish you could do something for this poor dog or at least get him away from his owner, but there’s nothing you can do. There isn’t a law against harming an animal, but you wish there was. Animal abuse by definition is causing physical pain, suffering or death, this can also include neglect that is so inhuman that it caused the animal to die or put in danger of death.
My definition of animal abuse would be using them as experiments, fighting rings and inflicting pain upon them. Animals have been abused for other peoples’ amusement for far too long. Ever since I was young, I have always been an animal lover and even now I have pets of my own. There needs to be something to help protect the animals who are living in unsafe environments.
Animal abuse is something that has been happening long before I was born, and probably before you were born too, but I think it would be stopped. Which is why I chose this topic because I want animal abuse to be stopped and I want the very sicking people who harm animals to be stopped before they can harm another. The very thought of them getting hurt makes my eyes water, I am that person who cries in the movie theater when an animal gets hurt or dies. I have seen the effects of abuse on many animals that have been rescued at shelters, they become skittish, very noise sensitive and can even lash out at those who make them feel even a little bit threatened. I also know that rescue animals can be very loving and touch starved because of everything they had gone through in their pasts.
An old friend of mine adopted a neglected and abused dog from a shelter and invited me over to get the dog used to other people. The dog was so frightened of new people it immediately ran away and wouldn’t stay in the same room for a long amount of time. The dog’s owners wanted to dog to at least try and warm up to me so they gave me some fries to feed it and it got a little more comfortable to even be able to sit near me. By the end of the night the dog had ended falling asleep on my lap and my friend’s wife had cried because she was so happy that the dog could trust. I know that other people who my friend had invited over couldn’t even get near the dog, or it would bite them. I was happy to be able to help the family and their dog.
There have always been people who want to help animals in need of protection and have been trying to put their ideas into action even if they don’t always work out, like the ban of posting videos on animal abuse or “animal crush films.” As much as people wanted this ban to work there was an easy way around it and that was by creating loopholes. People would just not record what they did to their animals or harm their animal in public and get no punishment because it is not an issue that is enforced by any law.
In good news, there have been many more attempts to help animals become safer and taken care of properly. Many dogs and cat meat farms being shut down made illegal according to, Farm Bill: dog and cat meat are now, finally, illegal, by Kelsey Piper, an article about the ending of dog and cats slaughterhouses one by one, starting with the states of California and Massachusetts. This Farm Bill prohibits, “the import, export, and slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption” and prohibits, “animal fighting to US territories as well.”
More people are pushing for animal rights and the protection of animals. One such thing that will help protect the animals in need of help would be the an up and coming Federal Ban on Animal Cruelty or the “PACT act,” from the article, Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, which is an informational text about what the “PACT act” would include and the author’s guess on how the future might look like with the act in place. There are many people who have seen the loophole in the anti-crush video and want there to be a change. There are many reasons to want this PACT act, according to, There’s No Federal Ban on Animal Cruelty. Lawmakers Want to Change That, by Niraj Chokshi, an article about why the federal ban should be in place, the benefits that it would have, and how the act may even help with future investigations and police work, “‘Our research has shown that if somebody is harming an animal, there is a good chance that they are also hurting or will hurt a human,’ John Thompson, the executive director of the Nation Sheriffs’ Association, said…” In another article, Animal cruelty on the rise, by Mardi Link, an article about animal abuse cases and the correlation between hurting an animal and child abuse, says something similar, “People who abuse animals tend to take the next step, he said. By “next step” Cooney was specifically referencing domestic violence,” which is said in the previous article, and helps support the fact that people who harm animals are more prone to harming another human, which is a crime and if animal cruelty is taken in as a sign by the police,could possibly help. Another reason to want this PACT act to be passed is that animal abuse is wrong, and no one should be able to cruelly hurt an animal for no other reason than their own entertainment.
There should be no reason that people should dislike or not support this act, but people may disagree with this act because they are making money off animal abuse. From dogs fights to chicken fights the people who place bets or participate in holding the fights there are always people making money off of animals being hurt. These fights should be put to a stop along with cosmetic businesses using animals to test their products. According to, Ending Cosmetics Animal Testing, by The Human Society of the United States, an informational text about how animals are being mistreated, and why they are being mistreated, “Animals still suffer and die to test shampoo, mascara and other cosmetic products. Terrified mice, rabbits, rats, and guinea pigs have substances forced down their throats, dripped into their eyes or smeared onto their skin before they are killed.” Animals shouldn’t have to suffer for something humans want. This shouldn’t be happening, and animals should be protected and there are much safer ways to test makeup.
There should be a federal ban on animal abuse for the safety of the animals and the safety of those who are around them. Animals are meant to be loved and kept safe, they shouldn’t be the object of one’s entertainment or selfish reasons like money. Support the Federal Ban on animal cruelty and save the many animals from abuse and those who don’t support the ban.
Citation:
Awionline.org. (2019). Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act. [online] Available at: https://awionline.org/content/preventing-animal-cruelty-and-torture-pact-act
Chokshi, N. (2019). There’s No Federal Ban on Animal Cruelty. Lawmakers Want to Change That.. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/us/animal-cruelty-bill-felony.html
Link, M. (2018). Animal cruelty on the rise. [online] RecordEagle.com. Available at: https://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/animal-cruelty-on-the-rise/article_73e5ee26-43c7-5673-af11-aba74e892d5a.html
The Humane Society of the United States. (2019). Ending Cosmetics Animal Testing. [online] Available at: https://www.humanesociety.org/all-our-fights/ending-cosmetics-animal-testing
