Animal cruelty is a real and serious problem that has reached a global scale. Different types of animals are pointlessly being mistreated in all parts of the world. Cruelty takes various forms but its impact is the same. Such acts can be prevented if people, from legislators to organizations, and individuals, fight together against it.
The most common animal cruelty reports are against dogs, cats, horses, and livestock. Based on investigations, abuse of animals is often found in the farm industry where hoarding of animals takes place. A lot of these instances are unreported due to the minimal protection being offered by state cruelty laws. Only the most gruesome and shocking cases are brought to light by the attention of the media and animal protection groups.
Why Do We Need to Stop Animal Cruelty?
We can always make the world a better place through our collective efforts. The problem with us is that some humans think of animals as just animals and express less care for their lives and wellbeing. The wildlife balances our ecosystem, while livestock provides food on our tables. However, animals live, breathe, eat, and interact like humans do. Our pets bring us more love and happiness than we give to them.
Intentional animal cruelty is found to be highly correlated with other crimes such as domestic violence. According to The Humane Society, 71% of domestic violence victims report that the perpetrators have also abused pets. 88% of households placed under supervision for physical assault in children have been discovered to also be a venue of pet maltreatment. A lot of the victims are pet owners and animal lovers. Their main concern is that they have no other choice but to stay with their abuser for the fear of their pet’s safety.
As an effort to stop this pattern of inhumane acts, global animal welfare groups have pushed for stronger anti-animal cruelty laws. This includes not only protecting the victims, but also prosecuting the offenders. State legislative trends in the US, for example, are gearing towards felony provisions across all 50 states.
Help Spread Awareness to Defend Animal Rights
The first step to pushing for animal rights and welfare is to spread awareness of animal cruelty. We should educate and encourage people to stop contributing to acts of abuse in any form.
It can very well start in our own homes where we stay attentive to the attitude of each of our family members towards our pets.
We also need to remind people to not turn a blind eye whenever they see an animal being abused on the streets, on social media, or anywhere for that matter.
Since most abuses do not occur in plain sight, we have to encourage each other to be vigilant of our neighbors and factory farms within our community.
If there are animal control officers within your jurisdiction, get in contact with them. We can always reach out and work together with local advocacy groups and global organizations that uphold animal rights and welfare.
Spreading awareness about the occurence of animal cruelty is very important. It may be a small step towards our goal but it is a big step in keeping our humanity.
It is one of the advocacies of YepiPet to help stop the abuse of animals, may it be our pets or the wildlife. One of the goals for our “Say NO to Animal Cruelty” campaign is to extend our reach throughout the world wide web. Hence, please express your support by sharing this article on to your social media pages or forward them in an email to your friends. Let us help spread awareness of animal abuse and strongly defend animal rights and welfare.
