the sad facts about animal cruelty
TRANSCRIPT
The Sad Facts About Animal Cruelty
Animal abuse is a horrifying but unfortunately common occurrence. Sometimes it is
simply the result of neglect by someone who either cannot, or will not, provide proper care. Other times the abuse is direct and deliberate. Abusers may be mentally ill, or unableto imagine that an animal has emotions just like a person, or that a creature can feel pain. In some cases a particular species or breed is perceived as bad or dangerous and a person may commit an act of cruelty out of fear or a need to control. In 2007, 25% of dog-abuse cases in the United States involved pit bulls, perhaps because people think of them as aggressive, “bad” dogs and therefore deserving of punishment.
Most cases of cruelty that involve neglect are incidences of large numbers of animals crammed in a small house with no food or water and living in feces and among the carcasses of others. Usually the perpetrator has little awareness of the severity of the situation until rescuers arrive. Direct abuse is more dramatic. People have done such things as douse an animal in fuel and set it on fire, or kill it by stabbing, drowning, burying alive, or suffocating. People have also starved animals or dragged them to death behind a car. They have hacked them to pieces or stomped them to death.
By far the worst cases of animal cruelty involve torture, usually because the person who
commits these acts has unresolved emotional problems, and crave control or revenge. In such cases the animal is just a helpless victim. For instance, animals are often involved in domestic violence cases where the violent partner vents rage on a pet in order to upset the other person. Domestic violence victims report their abuser targeted their pet in 71% of assault cases.
Cruelty on a large scale is seen in commercial operations, such as in Asia where dogs and cats are eaten or their fur is sold on the market. These creatures are skinned or boiled alive in large numbers and suffer terrible and prolonged deaths. Before they even reach the places where they are killed, they are transported under painful and deplorable conditions, often being crammed into crates with their legs broken.
Animal cruelty can be prevented in many instances by greater public awareness and
education. To learn more about the cat care in Morgan Hill, visit our website www.evergreenvetclinic.com