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Pets are more than animals; they are the same as people. “Who among us as a child or an adult

hasn’t turned to a companion animal for comfort or affection?” (Pacelle) People often wonder why we

abuse animals, why we choose the ways we do it, and how we can stop it. People abuse animals as a

form of entertainment, amusement, or to show control over someone or something. Animal cruelty can

be stopped with help from everyone.

People abuse animals for many reasons, “such as to control an animal, to retaliate against an

animal, to retaliate against another person, …to express anger through an animal, to enhance one’s own

aggressiveness, to shock people for amusement, to displace hostility from a person to an animal, and to

perform non-specific sadism.” Animal cruelty is broken down into two main types: active cruelty and

passive cruelty. Passive cruelty is more of the laziness, such as not taking care of an animal, or neglect.

Severe neglect can and will cause major pain to that animal. “Examples include but are not limited to:

starvation, dehydration, parasite infestation, allowing a collar to grow into an animal’s skin, inadequate

shelter in extreme weather conditions, and failure to seek vet care when an animal is in need of medical

attention”. Active cruelty is when we actually hit and abuse the animal, sometimes called NAI, or Non-

Accidental Injury. Acts of active cruelty should be taken seriously and be considered as signs of

psychological problem. People that commit animal abuse are mostly doing it for control, like if they

were abused growing up, mental problems, and maybe even do it for the attention. Many times, people

who are abusive may kill, or threaten to kill, the family pet to gain control over the family. Animal

cruelty is defined as any activity that will harm an animal in any way. Most people don’t understand

that animals can feel every bit of pain. (Animal cruelty).

People abuse animals in many different ways. Some ways we abuse animals is: throwing,

beating, beastiality, burning, choking/hanging, drowning, fighting, hoarding, kicking/stomping, neglect,

poisoning, shooting, and stabbing. (Animal Cruelty)

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Animals Number used

Mouse 1,607,000

Rat 535,000

Other Rodent 71,500

Rabbit 39,700

Carnivore 11,600

Hoofed Animals 63,000

Primate 3,700

Other Mammal 500

Bird 124,200

Reptile 15,600

Fish 243,000

Total 2,714,800

(www.HumaneSociety.com)

Animal testing is also a factor of animal cruelty. There is NO law that requires companies to test

their products on animals before sending them out to be sold. “While animal testing is still very much in

existence at large corporation such as Procter and Gamble, and Lever Brothers, there are now several

hundred “cruelty free” consumer product companies. There are also alternative testing methods such

as: eytex, a product produced by The National Testing Corp. in Palm Springs, California, is an in-virtro,

testing tube, procedure that measures irritancy via a protein alternation system. Skintex, an in-vitro

method to assess skin irritancy that uses pumpkin rind to mimic the reaction of a foreign substance on

the human skin. Epipacks uses cloned human tissue to test potentially harmful substances. Neutral Red

Bioassay is cultured human calls that used to compute the absorption of a water-soluble dye to measure

relative toxicity. Test skin uses human skin grown in a sterile plastic bag and can be used for measuring

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irritancy, etc.. Topkat is a computer software program that measures toxicity, mutagenisity, and a lot

more stuff. Ames Test mixes a test culture with salmonella typhimuriun and adds activated enzymes.

Around half of the experiments on animals use an aesthetic at some stage and many of these animals

are fortunate in that they are killed before the aesthetic wears off at the end of the procedure. Most

experiments conducted on dogs don’t use any aesthetic. (Animal Testing)

Dogs, usually pits, are bred and trained to fight each other to the death or until one is unable to

go on. And Why? Dog fights are held for the amusement of spectators and the profits from high-stakes

gambles. These fights can last for hours due to that the dogs are trained to continue fighting even after

having suffered a serious wound. The dogs that can’t fight are abandoned or mercilessly killed by

electrocution or gunshot. Dog fighting is ILLEGAL in every state in this country, it’s not only a felony but

it’s also a federal felony. Some signs to look out for are: a large number of pits being held in one

location, and most of them chained up; dogs with scars on their faces, front legs, hind ends and thighs;

dog fighting training equipment such as treadmills and tires hanging from trees; and many people

visiting a location at odd hours. If you see any of this or anything that you think has to do with dog

fighting report it Immediately.

“In 1997, 64% of the total number of animals that entered shelters was euthanized—approx. 2.7

million animals in just 1,000 animal shelters. Most of which were due to overcrowding.” Shelter

methods of euthanization are: Sodium Pentobarbital is the injection into the blood stream causing a fast

and pain free death; Carbon Monoxide (gas chamber/ humane way) where they put 5-10 animals in at

once causing a fast and pain free death. Carbon Monoxide is unacceptable to use on animals that are

geriatric, under 4 months of age, sick or injured, or pregnant. (Animal Shelter). However, even though it

may seem like they are hurting the animal when they use the pole they are not; it keeps them and the

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animal safe. Also the gas chamber in the humane way because if they did not put the animal under

before injecting the chemical into the blood stream the animal would be in a great pain. (Life)

A newsworthy case happened in Fremont, where a man faces charges in what Wayne County

considers “the most horrific case” they have ever seen. Police found dismembered animals, a machete,

knives, bowls of blood, and what looked like a plastic bag of puppy heads. Many decapitated animals

were also found, turtles, snakes, puppies whose paws were chopped off and a goat’s head on the grill.

(Minnick). Other newsworthy cases were: a cat found in a leg hold trap on Feb. 14, 2012; a dog shot

with a three-point arrow on Feb. 11, 2012; a kitten cut open for peeing on floor on Feb. 8, 2012. These

people need to pay for their cruelty towards these animals and yet they get away with it. (Animal

Cruelty).

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(www.animal-port.com)

People can help stop animal abuse. Most puppies you see in a pet store come from puppy mills.

They keep malnourished mothers in cages with horrific conditions forcing them to breed over and over

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again. Watch when you buy online as well, you may be sold a sick puppy! Before you go to pick out a

dog from the window, a shelter dog can be just as easy to handle. (Pelley)

To care for the new member of your family you should prepare yourself and your home. Put up

gates to keep them out of rooms you don’t want them in, use slipcovers to protect your furniture, view

your home from the pets perspective: keep food, trash, chemicals, medication, breakables, certain

plants, plastic bags, wires, shoes, anything that dangles and the remote control out of their way. You

also need to be protective by making sure nothing that is potentially harmful to your pet is left out

where they can get it and put out some toys to keep them occupied before you leave the house, you can

also just crate up your dog if you like but make sure the crate is big enough for them to move around in.

(Society)

Keep plenty of potty clean-up supplies handy. Make sure you train yourself to understand that

you are responsible for managing your home indoors and outdoors so that your pet can enjoy being

with you. Also Make sure your pet wears an ID tag showing your name, address, and telephone number

at all times in case they get lost or run off. To avoid your pet from being lost or running off make them

an inside pet, you also need to spay or neuter your pet as well. Did you know that every day 70,000

puppies and kittens are born while only 10,000 people are born?(Society)(Did)

Make sure your outside pet has the proper housing and environment. Pets need to have a

comfortable and safe place to escape the cold snow and harsh chilling winds of winter. The house

should a bit bigger than the animal that will be using it, make sure there are warm blankets or straw in

there as well. The straw will need to be changed frequently so that it does not cause any health

problems. The opening to the house should not be facing the wind. Some owners choose to equip their

pet’s house with heat and air conditioning, this should be professionally done. Heating pads or Heating

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blankets is not recommended, curious pets can harm themselves by chewing on the cords and could

create a huge hazard. (Winter)

Make sure your outside pet is properly groomed so that its fur does not mat up. Short haired

dogs are not recommended to be outside pets due to the fact that they will have problems during the

winter time. Make sure your pet has fresh food and water at all times. In winter pets are more

susceptible to illness so keep an eye on them so that you catch the illness early. The tips of the ears, tail,

and feet are practically susceptible.(Winter)

Also there might come a time that your pet will need on-the-spot medical care before you get

him to the vet, so make sure you always have a pet first-aid kit handy in a clearly marked and accessible

container. You can buy a pre-made kit at the pet store or make one yourself. The things you will need

are: Sterile gauze pads; gauze bandage rolls, never use human bandages on an animal; first aid adhesive

tape-1” roll; cotton-tipped swabs; tweezers; scissors; eye dropper, for oral treatments; latex gloves;

digital “Fever” thermometer, do not insert in an animal’s mouth; hydrogen peroxide, 3%; milk of

magnesia or activated charcoal, to absorb poison, for use only after consulting with a vet or the animal

poison control, 888-426-4435;mineral oil, lubricant or laxative when given orally; styptic pencil or corn

starch; triple antibiotic ointment; salin solution; splint materials, tongue depressors, 12-inch ruler or

thick magazine; leather work gloves, to protect you from being bit; mussel, or a soft cloth , towel, or

men’s necktie; cold packs; hot packs; syringe; leash; thin rope; a current pet first aid book or pamphlet;

and a copy of your pets medical record.(McKenney)

Also, if you see animal abuse, report it. You could save an animal’s life. Join the HSUS and “help

shut down the underground sport of dogfighting and cockfighting where animals tear each other to

shreds for the entertainment of blood thirsty gamblers. Help toughen penalties for animal abuse; a slap

on the wrist is not enough for the deliberate torture of innocent creatures.” The ASPCA cannot do this

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alone, they need our help. Animals give us friendship, companionship, and love; they deserve to be

treated better. (Pacelle).