Animal abuse is cruel, not cool

Heartless, unkind, ruthless, savage, and bloodthirsty: all of these words describe animal abuse. Animal abuse is “cruelty to animals or animal neglect. It is the human infliction of suffering or harm upon any non-human animal, for purposes other than self-defense or survival,” according to Definition.com.

Some examples of animal abuse are dog fighting, animal hoarding, and animal neglect. These are three of the many types of animal abuse.

Dog fighting is when a dog is put into a ring and is forced to fight another dog and potentially kill it. However, sometimes the winning dog dies from its wounds. In 2007, Michael Vick (an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL) was convicted of charges related to dog fighting. Recently in New Jersey, police broke up a dog fighting ring and charged four men who were involved. Dog fighting is happeneing all over the world. It needs to be shut down!

Dog fighting is heartbreaking and pitiful. Why say the words “man’s best friend” if all you’re going to do is hurt them and make them suffer? Vick was incredibly wrong to force dogs to fight just to get money. There are other animal fights like cock fighting and bull fighting. All are wrong and should all be ended.

Animal hoarding is possessing more animals than a person can care for at once. It is the “inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and veterinary care,” according to Humanesociety.org. This selfish care often leads to serious illnesses and death. When animals are hoarded, the owners keep breeding them and selling them. Like Vick, they hope to make a living from the animals’ suffering.

There should be a limit of how many animals people are allowed to buy.  Nobody should have more than at least eight animals at one time. Many people think that they have enough supplies to address animals’ needs, but in the end, they realize the resource scarcity and the poor animal suffer and sometimes starve to death as a result.

Animal neglect is another example of animal abuse. Animal neglect is “ the failure to provide basic care required for an animal to thrive,” according to aldf.org. Animals are just like us. They need food, water, shelter, and care. Animals, to me, are like innocent children. If we feed them and treat them respectfully, they live longer. However, if we neglect them, they will perish.

I believe that animals are key to society, not just for food or clothing, but because they can reduce depression, lower blood pressure, and many kids love having them around. If we all did our part to stop animal abuse, many of their innocent and loving lives would be spared. Animal abuse is cruel, not cool.