Research paper on animal cruelty - Essay Example

Gianotto is revealing how widespread animal cruelty is, costing the lives of hundreds of animals a day, and thousands a year. Unfortunately, there are many people that attempt to condone their actions when they abuse animals, but when it comes to animals, they should be treated no different than human beings. Though there are many causes to animal cruelty, the greatest reason that abuse occurs is because there are many people that regard animals as being less than worthy of proper care and support.

It is believed that animals cannot think, feel, or respond as humans are able to, and should therefore not be treated with respect. There are other people that think that animals exist solely to help humans obtain certain needs, such as food or clothing. They are materials and resources, but nothing more than that. Though they may not be able to speak and tell us how they feel or what they are experiencing, if an animal is wrongfully treated, it is still affected by it. It hurts and it suffers from our negligent actions.

Animals are living, breathing creatures, just like human beings, and they are capable of responding in similar ways to pain and neglect. They also have their own needs that need to be met to ensure their survival. To say that they are unlike human beings and are below us is completely inaccurate. As aforementioned, there are a variety of ways in which an animal can experience animal cruelty, which can be divided up into two categories: neglect and abuse. One of the most common forms of animal cruelty, especially in residential situations, is neglect.

When an animal, usually a pet, is neglected, the owners are not doing their part in making sure that their pet is getting the necessities, such as food, water, and a proper environment to protect them from the various weather elements. If it is over one hundred degrees outside, the owner should accommodate so that their pet does not die from the heat. If a pet does die from conditions such as these, the owner has committed animal cruelty. Keeping a pet becomes a chore to these people, and many even regard pets as just that.

However, it should be the other way around. If a family brings in a pet, they are bringing it in as a new family member, and that pet should be treated as such. Animal abuse consists of many things, ranging from physically abusing an animal, much as a person would physically abuse a child, to housing dogs in puppy mills. Physically abusing an animal involves beating them, kicking or hitting them, with such unnecessary force that the animal becomes injured. Puppy mills are “commercial dog breeding facilities that are [.

] often in substandard conditions regarding the wellbeing of dogs in their care (Swartz).” In a puppy mill, dogs are kept in close quarters, which are often tiny cages with hardly space to move. They are not let out, but are left to live in their own filth and without the proper food, water, and attention that they need. To these people, animals are simply objects or else nuisances, even though the person has the choice of whether or not they keep that animal. Instead, when they bring home an animal that they no longer love, they stop caring for it and making sure that its needs are met.

The fault is that of the owner, but it is the animal that gets the consequences. Other forms of animal cruelty under the category of abuse includes, though is by no means