Animal Cruelty: The Issues Of Abandoned Animals

Thousands of animals are alone and dying, and what are you doing? This is animal cruelty, which despite societies advancements, is a very real problem in our society. What I’m trying to achieve today is to raise awareness and possibly stop this completely. There are many forms of animal cruelty such as animal abandonment, physical abuse and organised animal fighting, all caused by humans! Their helpless lives are in our hands…

Imagine leaving your dog for dead, you probably can’t fathom that, can you? And despite that, abandoment is one of the most common forms of animal cruelty. This form can affect any animal but more likely to happen to cats and dogs. Abandonment affects an animal’s mental health, for example, they feel confused and frightened which can cause deep depression. Abandonment often occurs because people buy from greedy breeders instead of saving an innocent life and adopting from the pound, or people can no longer look after the animal and leave them in the street or at the pound. Hundreds of people every single day walk past and ignore homeless, cold and starving dogs and don’t spare a single thought for the unfortunate dog. The animal abandonment statistics are heartbreaking, for example, the total of cats in a shelter- 2,514, only 509 adopted and 1,698 killed. Total of dogs in shelter- 1,829, only 354 adopted and 793 killed. Total number of animals in shelter- 2, 007, only 520 adopted and 1,028 killed. World wide it is thought to be around 6 million every year and around 3.5million dogs and around 3.4 million cats are abandoned in the USA alone. If we don’t try and do something about this, something as simple as adopting from the pound rather than buying from greedy breeders or having a plan if something goes south, abandonment will become less common and less animals will lose their lives.

Animal abuse can come in many forms but I want to speak about physical abuse because it is a real problem. Dogs get abused the most, along with cats, horses and livestock. People often abuse animals because the animal is being disobedient, they are being loud or they are doing it for fun, I know, how ridiculous right?! Studies have shown approximately 70million pet dogs and 74.1million cats in the US where 20 men and women are assaulted per minute (an average of 10million a year!). Statistics based on the media reports related to animal cruelty cases reveal that around 1,880 animal abuse cases were reported in 2007, dogs- 1,212, cats- 337, others- 470. People all over the world see countless videos of animals being abused! And does anyone ever do anything about it? Would you? From being smacked to even being set on fire, we must report any form of abuse for the wellbeing of the animal, we must stop this. Physical abuse can completely change an animal by making them either timid or aggressive and increase nervousness and more. Physical abuse is a very real problem most people don’t know about, but it won’t decrease without your help, so please if you are a witness, report it to the Police or RSPCA immediately, they need our help.

The dog’s blood is everywhere, yet everyone is cheering, why? Organised animal fighting, this is without a doubt, the most inhumane act I have ever seen. This sport is a blood sport where they are encouraged and forced to brutally fight for money and entertainment, dog fighting and cock figting is the most popular. Although how horrendous this sport is, it’s not illegal in some states! People caught committing these crimes in most states can result in prison for only about 3 years and a $250,000 fine. Dog fighting is the most common organised animal fighting. There’s no surprise the dog of choice is a Pit Bull Terrier even if they are innocent creatures brought up wrong. These poor dogs don’t get treated like your dogs, they spend most of their lives on short heavy chains away from people and other dogs, they are forced to walk on treadmills for hours and forced to fight stray dogs for practice. These unfortunate animals can suffer injuries such as puncture wounds, laceration, blood loss, crushing injuries and broken bones. Most fights are not to the death but they may succumb to the injuries later, The losing dog is often discarded, killed or lefted with untreated wounds. All of this pain and suffering for money, major fights can result in $500,000. Cock fighting is also a major problem, this time the animals are encouraged to fight to the death and are equipped with knives and artificial graffs in the hope to inflict maximum damage, these fights can only result in a few hundred to thousand dollars. Every year many animals die painfully and alone because of human greed.

Together we can change this, we can save the innocent lives of animals, decrease the number of animals on the street or in the pound, stop organised fighting and reduce the number of abuse cases! So what are you going to do?