Animal Сruelty in the Pursuit of Human Pleasure

I am sure most of you have seen the brutal videos of animals getting abused to try and spread awareness, but have you ever thought about how many innocent animals die each year from the cruel actions of humans? I believe that when owning an animal you have the responsibilities of taking care of your pets, this includes taking them for walks, having a healthy diet, fresh water and a shelter for them. The existence of animal cruelty is irresponsible because when animals are held in unsafe conditions it causes the potential risk to decrease the welfare of animals. There are many forms of animal cruelty such as cosmetic testing on animals, bloodsports or animal fighting, captivity and animal hoarding.

Everyone has heard of the cleaning brand ‘Windex’ however what you probably didn’t know is that over 100 million animals get abused and killed each year during these experiments to test whether Windex is safe for humans. Cosmetic testing on animals is any experiment or test on a live animal while forcing them to be injected or to inhale potentially toxic substances, being exposed to radiation, or surgically practising on the animals. All animal testing causes the animal pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm. This can lead to anxiety or depression if the animals have survived, as only 3% of them will actually survive the experiments. This has caused the failure rate for testing to increase from originally from 92% to 96%. There are only 40 countries in the world that have banned animal testing making it illegal in that area, because of this not many people think about animal testing while buying products. People around the world are helping to spread awareness by creating videos, posters and starting protests to get everyone’s attention so they know what brands and companies run animal testing.

Have you ever stopped to think of what animal fighting was like in the 12th century? Yeah neither have I, this is because no one talks about animal fighting anymore as some people believe that it’s okay all because of human entertainment and money. People place bets on animal fights and can make up to or over $100,000. Animal fighting is a staged fight between two animals or an animal and a human, animal fighting is also known as bloodsports which is similar but contains bloodshed or the drawing of blood. From the 12th century to the 20th century there were many popular bloodsports that have now been banned for many years. These “sports” included animal baiting, goose-pulling, octopus wrestling, bear whipping, cock throwing, drawing the badger, fox tossing and pato. The bloodsports all involved purposely harming animals and most resulted in death. The most common form of animal fighting still around is dog fighting, as claimed by npr.org dog fighting is still legal in Japan and parts of Russia. Whether dog fighting is legal or not it is still held openly in parts of Latin America, Pakistan and Eastern Europe. In the U.S. and the United Kingdom dog fights are held secretly as it is illegal in both countries.

If you have ever thought of taking in loads of animals to “save” them from cruelty, this is actually a very bad idea. People take in lots of animals believing that they are helping the animals when in reality they are making it worse because they can’t tend to all of the animals' needs. Animal hoarding is something that happens very often and people don’t understand how dangerous it is for the animals in that household. Owning too many domestic animals in one household and not being able to provide standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and veterinary care can result in animal starvation, illness and death. If you have children it makes it even harder as you have to tend for both the animals and the children. This leads to many parents believing that it is okay leaving their younger children alone with the animals so they have something to entertain them but what they don’t know is that 32% of animal abuse is actually caused by young children as they don’t understand how to care for an animal. This is why the government has made certain rules about how many animals you can legally own.

Have you ever wanted to own an exotic pet like a snow leopard? Me too, until I learnt about captivity and how it affects animals. Animals all over the world, including reptiles, amphibians, fish and mammals are being held in captivity. When animals are kept in captivity they become deprived of their natural habitat and they may not have enough room to be active which can lead to affect the animal’s welfare by causing them to have severe anxiety or depression. Many animals that have been placed in frightening surroundings causes the animals to get stressed and this usually results in the animals being put down as they will get defensive. In the documentary “tiger king: murder, mayhem and madness” on netflix, it shows that people have been keeping excotic animals like big cats in captivity and some cats can get overwhelmed and act out. Kelci Saffery also known as “saff” from the tiger king documentary had to get his arm amputated because a tiger had attacked him while he was working. People keep animals in captivity for money and human entertainment, which also includes breeding to sell the animals.

There are plenty of laws on animal abuse all over the world but not enough to save all the animals from abuse or neglect. This is why we need to spread awareness for animal abuse because animals have feelings too!