Abolish Animal Abuse

Arabella Chiang

Asuncion

English 9H

5 January 2016

Abolish Animal Abuse

Why would you want to hurt animals? They would never hurt you. Abusing an animal is a cruel thing to do. Reporting an injured dog you see on the road may save its life. There are facilities that can help these animals. Most animals are abused in their own households, by their owners. These owners may not just stop at the animal; many animal abusers also abuse their children or even their spouses. Physical abuse is not the only thing that animals suffer from. Several animals are also used for drug testing. The cruelty does not end here.  Animal owners often place their pets in a blood sport for their own entertainment and monetary gain. Doing something like this is absolutely despicable. Abusing animals is not any better than using animals as test subjects, and making animals fight each other is even worse. Abusing animals is a horrible thing to do.

In many households there are several types of abuse. When there is animal abuse, there is often child abuse or the abuse of a spouse (Gibson, par. 6). Some people abuse the animal to manipulate their wife or husband, since the pet would have a really close connection with other owner, who shows affection towards the animal. If the caring owner can, they try to escape with their animals to try and find shelter away from their abusive family. Many people experience these types of abuse, so the Loudoun Department of Animal Services founded the Stop Abuse and Violence Effort (S.A.V.E.) helps connect child abuse and animal abuse and helps out the family. Whenever there’s a report on child abuse the police officers would also look for any type of animal abuse too (Gibson, par. 4).

Another thing is drug testing on animals is not effective (Chandna, par. 1). Most of the data the scientist collects won’t be applicable on humans (Chandna, par. 1). Even though animals and humans function similarly, they will not respond to drugs the same way (Chandna, par. 1). Testing cancer drugs on animals has a 94% failure (Chandna, par. 4). Why would you want to test drugs on innocent animals if there is an exceptionally high percentage rate saying that it will not work, and that their lives will be ended shortly thereafter? These companies don't realize is that animals and humans are completely different.  They may not receive the same results their products have on humans as the ones they received from the tested animal. Why test things on animals if we won’t get the results we want? There are times when the drug can work on animals, but it might not work for humans. For example, an experiment in London proved the drug has tested safe on animals 500 times the human dose, but when the drug was tested on six perfectly healthy humans, they were all rushed to intensive care (Chandna, par. 5). Testing drugs on animals doesn't do anything to help scientists to collect data. Testing drugs on animals, seriously hurting them, and not even ending up with dependable results causes more harm than good.

Lastly, dog fighting is disgusting and unpleasant. Animals get hurt in these events and do not receive medical attention when the fight is over. There are three different types of dog fighting. The first one is professional.  There are breeding clubs and many connections with dog fighters (Laurie, par. 22). The second one is hobbyist: they do it for the entertainment (Laurie, par. 22). The third one is street level: they disperse when they hear the police coming (Laurie, par. 22). Dog fighting is tormenting dogs. The fights usually last for five or more hours (Laurie, par. 19). Even if the dog is exhausted of badly injured they have to continue. If the dogs win, they go back to their heavy chains. If the dog loses they will be drowned, electrocuted, or burned. Many people see this as entertainment and gamble on which dog will win. Many states don’t do anything about these dog fights because police don’t have enough training on animal cruelty laws, but if these dog fights are found, then everyone involved would get a penalty (Laurie, par. 3). The maximum penalty of a $250,000 fine with three years in jail and the minimum penalty is a $30,000 fine and six months in jail (Animal Abusers, par. 4). People should think about what the consequences are before they get themselves into a huge mess by abusing these dogs in a horrible and disgusting way.

Hurting animals is wrong. There is an act called the Animal Welfare Act that states whoever hurts or tortures an animal on purpose will be penalized. It also states that the person who has custody of an animal can’t abandon the animal (Animal Abusers, par. 17). Guess what? Many people still abandon their pets and abuse their animals. Why risk being put in jail for hurting an innocent animal that trusts and doesn't want to harm anyone? The fact that animals are being abused in a household, being used as test subjects, and are forced into fighting other animals is cruel and terrible. Abusing animals is something that no one should ever do. Why would anyone want to hurt such an innocent creature?

Works Cited

Animal abusers face harsher penalties, longer jail time under bill.” Philippines Daily Inquirer [Makati City, Philippines] 9 June 2013. Global issues in Context. Web. 29 Dec.2015.

Chandna, Alka.“Unsafe and ineffective.” New Internationalist Dec. 2006:34. Global Issues in Context. Web. 29 Dec. 2015.

Gibson, Caitlin..“If abuse is in a home, no one is safe.” Washington Post. 25 Sep. 2014: T24. eLibrary.Web. 29 Dec. 2015.

Laurie, Falls, Twin., Idaho.“Official: Idaho’s Animal Cruelty Laws Fall Short.” McClatchy-Tribune Business News. 8 Nov. 2014 elibrary.Web. 30 Dec. 2015.