The Controversial Issues Regarding Animal Cruelty
Animal cruelty is a widespread problem that occurs in many different forms every day around the world. Animal cruelty is any infliction of pain or suffering on animals by humans. Although many claim that animals are meant to be used to benefit the human race and that their populations are much easier to control when they are used for human advancements, the lives of innocent animals should not be harmed or taken in order to make fashion statements, increase products of the food industry, or domesticate animals. Every year, millions of animals are subject to animal cruelty. Animal cruelty does not only occur physically, but can also be inflicted psychologically. While animal cruelty has always been a prevalent issue, not enough people are willing to fight against it until it is finally put to an end. The life of an innocent animal is not something that should be disregarded when the opportunity arises to benefit people.
The exploitation of animals has become a common trait of the fashion industry. One of the most dangerous facets of animal cruelty in the fashion industry is the lack of awareness of how materials are actually collected. Animals skin and fur are used to make materials such as leather, fur, wool, feathers, and silk. According to the article “Animals Used for Clothing”, when animals are captured to make clothing, they live extremely short lives in terrible conditions. They can be forced into overcrowded and confined spaces where they can barely move. In the fashion industry, “trapping animals in bone-breaking steel traps, clubbing them to death, electrocuting them through the mouth or anus, breaking their necks and backs, [and skinning] them alive” has become much too common (Garlow).
The fact that this type of treatment has become acceptable in society reflects the morality and nature of the human race. Cruelty is seen as permissible to humans as long as people are able to make or follow the newest trends in the fashion industry.
In order to produce animal-based clothing, animals must be trapped in large numbers. To collect fur, animals such as mink, fox, lambs, raccoons, rabbits, dogs, etc. are hunted. While many European countries have banned fur-farming, the United States has passed no federal laws regulating the keeping or killing of cage-raised animals for their fur. Trapped animals not only suffer physically through forms of dehydration, exposure to severe weather, and predation by other animals, but can also from suffer physiological trauma (“Animals Used”). While wool is sometimes seen as an alternative to fur, it is just as harmful to the animals used in the process of collecting it. When lambs are just weeks old, their ears are hole-punched, their tails are cut off, and males are castrated without anesthetics. Just before sheep naturally shed their coats, they are sheared each spring in order to ensure that no wool is lost. Shearing can cause sheep to die of exposure because of premature wool loss. This is not where the cruelty against sheep ends.
When sheep age and begin to produce less wool, they are then sold to be slaughtered (“Animals Used”). Cashmere is also collected by the shearing of animals. Goats are killed if their coats do not meet the standards for productive shearing. They are frequently dehorned, castrated, and have their ears notched without anesthesia. Just as sheep, they are sold to be slaughtered after they are sheared (“Animals Used”). There are many alternatives to wearing real fur, wool, or cashmere. Faux fur is a very popular option that looks and feels like real fur. Other alternatives also include cotton and hemp. Also, in the process of gathering leather, it is very common for animals such as cows to have their tails broken or to be skinned alive. This process takes place although there are many alternatives to leather such as faux leather, which also looks and feels like real leather.
According to Ariel Garlow in the article “5 Worst Ways Animals Are Exploited in the Fashion Industry,” killing animals just to make another piece of clothing or an accessory is not necessary, especially when there are so many alternatives that do not put animals in danger. The negative effects of the exploitation of fur-bearing animals is not limited to the animals alone. The use of fur for clothing creates many harmful effects on the environment. Much more energy is required to produce coats made of real fur than to produce fake furs. The waste produced on fur farms also contributes to the pollution of waterways. Trapping of animals will often disrupt various populations by killing healthy animals that are needed to keep their species strong (“Fur”). It is evident that the exploitation of animals is an unnecessary feature of the fashion industry. There are many alternatives to animal-based clothing and the negative effects of using innocent animals heavily outweigh the advantage of following a new fashion trend.
Animal cruelty is also a very widespread issue in the food industry. While many food labels seem to advertise the importance of animal welfare on their farms, these labels are often misleading. Some of the most misunderstood food labels relating to animal welfare include the use of the phrases such as natural, free-range, humanely-raised/ humanely handled, hormone- free, and cage free. When these labels are used, they usually do not define standards or codes of animal welfare. There are no federal laws in the United States concerning the raising and welfare of farm animals (“Farm Animal”). Therefore, the term “welfare” can be subjective.
The inhumane treatment of animals, especially on factory farms, is often brought to the public’s attention. However there are never any lasting solutions to this problem. Animals are forced into battery cages where they live miserable lives in confined spaces and can barely move due to overcrowding. Pigs are forced to live in tiny stalls where they may endure physical and psychological suffering. They suffer from open wounds, pressure sores, depression, anxiety, and boredom. Pigs will often display abnormal behavior when forced to live in a tiny stall. They may even bang their heads against the bars of their stalls until they become stuck when they are distressed (Bhumitra).
These signs of distress display the effects that the suffering inflicted on these animals has on them both physically and mentally.The solutions that factory farms provide are not nearly as effective or humane as one would hope. While animals are stuck in unnatural conditions, they may act out aggressively. Instead of providing animals with more space, factory farmers usually “mutilate the animals’ bodies to prevent them from attacking one another — not, of course, for the animals’ sake, but because injuries from fighting can cut into profits” (Bhumitra). Factory farmers often slice off the tails, cut holes in the ears, and grind the teeth of baby piglets without any pain relief to prevent attacks that can sometimes lead to cannibalism. Factory farm animals such as turkeys are also subject to extreme animal cruelty. There have been undercover investigations of factory farms in which turkeys were found to be “violently slammed into metal shackles before being painfully shocked with electricity and having their throats cut open while still conscious and able to feel pain” (“Undercover Investigations”). The fact that animals have emotions and feel pain just as humans do is frequently disregarded when it comes to the food industry. Animals deserve to be treated fairly and humanely, especially if they are being raised to benefit humans. The importance of protecting animals must be recognized and promoted. They are shown no mercy or kindness when they are exploited for the food industry.
According to Jaya Bhumitra, the mantra of factory farms in the food industry is “Money before mercy.” The most important thing on factory farms is the amount of food produced. Animals are being used to feed people and to many people, their pain and suffering is worth the benefits of the food produced. The ill treatment of animals is not restricted only to the food industry, but occurs in many other forms and industries such as through the process of domesticating wild animals, especially for entertainment.Animals from the wild are frequently caught and domesticated.
Like the harmful processes used to make clothing materials and food products from innocent animals, the methods used to capture animals from their natural homes and domesticate them for the sole purpose of entertaining humans lacks morality and respect for the lives of animals. Animals are exploited for entertainment in businesses such as zoos, circuses, and many animal “sanctuaries around the world.” The domestication of wild animals does not take away their natural instincts or their predatory impulse. Wild animals in captivity are abused until there are signs of physiological, morphological and behavioral changes. The “taming” of wild animals includes beating, drugging, starving and traumatizing the animals into submission (Henn).
After animals are captured and taken out of their natural habitats, they are forced into captivity. Captivity usually has very negative effects on an animal. It causes mental stress and erratic behavior. To solve this issue, animals are given psychoactive drugs such as Xanax, Zoloft, Paxil, Klonopin, Valium, etc. These drugs are given to animals with depression and anxiety. Wild animals in the process of domestication that still show signs of violent instincts may also be sedated. Food may be given to animals as a reward for following directions. However, when animals do not comply, food deprivation is a method of punishment (Henn). In addition to forcing animals into captivity, using drugs to control their behavior, and using food deprivation as punishment, the use of the bullhorn is another very brutal yet popular method of domestication. Sharp edges are dug into the animal’s most vulnerable spots to get them to comply. These forms of abuse, especially when they are used to train animals for entertainment, must be brought to public awareness and put to an end. Inhumane animal attractions should be avoided and boycotted.
Domesticated animals are not only used for entertainment, but are also breeded to become housepets. Animals sold in pet shops are treated as accessories to be bought. The selling of these animals takes away the chance of animals in shelters being adopted. Animals that cannot be sold are gassed in glass tanks. Before they are sold, animals are abused and neglected (“Pet Stores”). Most animals sold in pet shops come from puppy mills. These mass-breeding facilities are just another source of abuse and neglect. Animals are denied socialization, exercise, and veterinarian care. In pet shops, puppies are crammed into small cages which may oftentimes cause distress. Smaller animals such as mice, hamsters, gerbils, and rats are forced into confined, filthy, overcrowded cages (“Pet Shops”). It is important to not support the abuse of animals and not to buy animals from pet stores. By adopting from a shelter, it helps to support animal shelters instead of the inhumane treatment and breeding of animals in pet shops.
Every year, millions of animals are mistreated and killed for the advancements of the human race. Animals are constantly exploited for many different reasons including the fashion industry, the food industry, and the domestication and selling of animals. Although this issue has been brought to awareness many times, it is time for it to finally be put to an end. When innocent animals are abused to benefit people although there are many known alternatives that do not include animal cruelty, there is clearly a problem with the morals of the human race. When people start standing up for what is right and against animal cruelty until an effective solution is created, animal cruelty will not be as prevalent an issue.
