Cruelty To Animals

Cruelty To Animals     
 Mike Cohen
COM 323 Persuasion and Argumentation
Michael Cooper
December 15, 2012







    “The judge summarily dismissed the egregious case of animal cruelty against Willa, despite strong evidence that the dog was hideously beaten with baseball bats. People standing near the bench heard the judge glibly mumbling, “It’s just a dog . . .” as he moved on to a “more important case,” a liquor store “B & E.” The humane law enforcement agents who prosecuted Willa’s case felt a surge of anger and frustration, seeing their effort go nowhere. The abusers disappeared quickly from the courtroom, still puzzled about why such a “big stink” was made over a dog. At the local humane society, the staff soon got the disappointing news that Willa’s abusers walked away scot-free but found much to celebrate that made them feel good about their work— the dog’s abusers at least had their day in court, a dedicated and highly skilled veterinary staff saved Willa from death, and an employee adopted her. (Arluke 2006, p.1)”

     Cruelty to animals in our society unfortunately is a topic that is discussed way too often. When you hear the phrase, “ Cruelty to animals” what comes to mind? Do you think of dog abuse poster child, Michael Vick and his dog fighting case? How about the consistent bad mouthing of pit-bulls. How about when you walk in your local mall and you see cute puppies that are stuck in a cage that is barely double the size of them? Each person who has a little bit of connection to animals in someway, should be aware of the various acts of cruelty that animals are victim to. Have you ever visited your local animal rescue, local zoo or aquarium? Is there a certain level of cruelty to animals that is considered acceptable? There are various aspects of the topic of cruelty to animals that is acceptable and unacceptable. These aspects need to be understood, not for the interest or nutrition preferences of another celebrity or athlete going vegetarian or vegan. Especially not to appease the media.  The issue is cruelty to animals and animal welfare and the people who own, train, domesticate, inspire the behavior these animals exhibit. It is how our perspectives on animals that allows for cruelty to happen, and it is our lack of respect interest or care in the topic that allow it to continue every day.  With correct and moral way of thinking, we can not only make choices that will mandate change and that those changes will not only benefit animals, but it will benefit anyone who has any relating part of the welfare of animals.
            Cruelty to animals happens more often than most would actually realize.  It’s not just in the United States, that is a huge problem. Cruelty to animals spans all over the entire world. The magnitude of this problem reaches from each corner of the globe in the communities human kind has developed. Labels, brands and products we blindly know and trust. At the end of every single film that is in our local movie theater, towards the end of the credits will read, “No animals were hurt or abused in the filming of this movie”.  There are certain levels of animal cruelty that must be improved. Humans’ quality of life is definitely at a good level, our pets, the exhibits at zoos’ and aquariums, there must be a way of improving the conditions and decreasing the negative, unnecessary actions to these animals. These injustices can be seen in local pet shops, in local grocery stores, in our medicine cabinets, on the cover of our magazines, on the coat or handbag of a passer-by, from our oceans to the forests, and even in our neighbors home.  What would you do if these animals were able to communicate to you? Or are they already trying to communicate but are we just not paying enough attention to listen? ”I am the voice of the voiceless; Through me the dumb shall speak, Till the deaf world’s ear be made to hear The wrongs of the wordless weak. From street, from cage, and from kennel, From stable and zoo, the wail Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin Of the mighty against the frail. And I am my brother’s keeper, And I will fight his fight, And speak the word for beast and bird, Till the world shall set things right. —Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850– 1919) (Beers 2006, p.59)”


            The problem is created by lack of respect for these animals. Some people see them as servants and as weaker or less than equal because of their size and lack of communication. For whatever reason some people get a kick out of hurting or injuring pets. Some other people view their pets and animals in general, as being on the same page as humans. To treat them how you expect to be treated. The idea that they have a heart, many people believe they need to be experiencing the life and benefits of which their owners do.  The problem I will discuss is the unnecessary suffering of animals, what we have done to police the issue, where we see animal cruelty happening, and what it means to society to allow it to continue. Some of these issues seem so out of reach but in reality they are closer and more obtainable than we realize.  By focusing on our actions or our lack of actions about the welfare of these animals, we could ultimately improve the quality of the lives of the animals that are in our community and in our homes.
            The Animal Welfare Act came into existence on August 24th, of 1966.  What it does, is “it authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to regulate transport, sale, and handling of dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits intended to be used in research or ’for other purposes.’  It requires licensing and inspection of dog and cat dealers and humane handling at auction sales” (AWIC, 2009).   This law set a standard for animal treatment, unfortunately, the scope of this law provides little protection for a great number of animals who are victims.  In this day and age, to be able to access information regarding any type of breed of dog or cat is available immediately. The internet has created a possible threat to domestic pets. Having the access to be able to purchase a puppy or kitten online through a puppy mill, this takes away the love and affection that the process of picking up a pet creates. This makes it a business and for many business owners to breed and sell as many pets as they could to make profit. The quality of life these puppy mills provide to their pets is completely unacceptable. Most of the animals in these mills, are inbred, they carry falsified documents, do not meet the breed standard, carry preventable genetic defects. This is where most commercial pet shops and websites receive their litters from, and look to sell these pets at a certain price and standard of which they are not. “Under the AWA… Inspection records obtained by the HSUS show that many USDA-licensed breeders get away with repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act.  These violators are rarely fined and their licenses are rarely suspended. Facilities with long histories of repeated violations for basic care conditions are often allowed to renew their license again and again.” (“American Humane Association,” 2010).
    There are very few states that even care to regulate breeders at a state level, licenses are not required in all states, licenses are cheap for anyone to buy compared to the profit being made, and are those licensed are tracked and controlled very poorly.
            Puppy mills seem to be a debatable conversation brought up quite often in regard to animal welfare. What other questions can we ask ourselves as people, having the responsibility to seek out, of what more can we do/or what actions can we take to protect animals?  A start to how we could prevent from purchasing our future pets at particular stores who receive their animals from puppy mills. A simple search over the internet could save the lives of hundreds of unhealthy puppies. Do research of a reputable breeder and be diligent.
    Sport hunting is another topic that comes up quite often in the conversation of cruelty to animals. When a hunter shoots an animal in an area that is considered protected or preserved, it is not a sport.  There is absolutely no reason an animal should be trapped, caught or shot for reasons other than food consumption.  This sport is unacceptable and should be shut down. 
    “The Animal Crush Prohibition Act of 2010 is a significant piece of legislature that, for only the second time in history(the first being when child pornography was banned in the early 1980′s), a form of “speech” was classified as a prurient obscenity on a federal level in the United States. Some overlook this fact and what it means to animals, moving forward. To us, it is a step in a proper direction toward what truly equates to animals having rights. This was the reason why we fought so hard to pressure lawmakers into placing animal crush video into the same category as child pornography.”(Stopcrush.org, 2010) Crush videos are perverted, sexual videos where women stomp on small animals for the purpose of arousing certain sick individuals, they should be subject to animal cruelty laws.  Unfortunately, when tried in court, crush videos were deemed legal because they would violate Free Speech laws.  The court reasoned that if crush videos were outlawed, then hunting films would be outlawed as well. 
            In society today, with more new diseases and diagnosis’, more medicine and drugs are being produced. Rather than testing these new medications on humans before making the drug available to the public, most of these companies test them out on animals. Just because these medications and drugs may benefit human beings and possibly save the lives of hundreds and maybe thousands, does not make all testing humane, necessary or justifiable.  It is easy to say, “it’s only a mouse, or it’s only a monkey” that it justifies that testing these innocent animals for the benefit of human beings suffering or dying from disease that it’s acceptable.  If we could present this differently for example, for every animal we use for testing, we breed two more to replace the one we lose for the sake of the human benefit. Especially with the daily breakthroughs and discoveries in medicine and the research field of medicine, the hope is by saving or protecting these animals that we are able to use our discoveries based solely upon research.
    An animal gives us the ability to improve life expectancy and live healthier lives, but it still comes down to the fact that, it is still a life.  This is a topic that puts human beings in a odd situation.  If you ask most people to watch a loved one or relative suffer and possibly lose a battle to a disease, for the sake of saving a mouse or a monkey. We need to ask a question that is pointing in a direction such as, “ is there anyway we could avoid sacrificing these innocent animals for the sake of saving humans from any disease or side effects due to the medication. “ Not all types of animals are qualifiable  subjects for testing simply because they are not biologically comparable to the human body’s chemistry.   It falls into our hands for taking responsibility to test animals on a limited basis. To consider the pro’s and con’s of testing animals and to also consider if what we’re doing is justifiable and if we are treating these innocent animals humanely.
             It is our obligation to the society we live in to change and improve the way we view animals and focus on ways that we can humanely regulate what we have them experience. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars to protect parks and endangered species. If we don’t respect every portion of nature, why should we try so hard to protect it? We can’t have it both ways.  We need to accept more responsibility and make it a credible effort to change our practices and improve our rationalization on the cruelty of animals.
            “Animals cannot campaign for their own liberation, and it requires an unprecedented level of altruism from members of a species who stand to lose from the protection of animals, to fulfill this objective on behalf of them” (Garner 2005, p. 42). The purpose of supporting such a topic is the importance of this concept that affects the public. By us making the efforts to change and to focus on our actions and take responsibility to change some of those actions is key. We are responsible for every action, positive or negative that we exhibit. These various degrees of cruelty towards animals is unacceptable. To be able to be an owner of a pet of which they are not raised properly or healthy, to go fishing or hunting just for sport and to be able to hang a trophy from a mantle, to use animals as subjects for the benefit of knowledge of side effects due to diseases and various medications is completely unacceptable. By realizing these acts, it takes very little effort to decide upon ways that could possibly protect animals from these actions. This indirectly is actually protecting and valuing human life as a result of paying attention to our furry friends. By these animals living with no interference and abuse by us, this is making us better people. To have a heart to adopt animals from an animal shelter, to support campaigns against puppy and kitten mills, to treat these animals as you as humans would like to be treated are very small steps towards supporting the fight against the cruelty to animals.  What this shows us is that all it takes is to be educated and to do your research. Ask yourself some questions. If you don’t have the answers, research them. Animals may not be able to speak the language you speak, but it’s time you start paying attention to the actions you are doing in regards to these living things. They have a heart beat, and have feelings and emotions just as humans do.



Reference Page

American humane association. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.americanhumane.org/about-us/newsroom/fact-sheets/animal-abuse-domestic-violence.html#sources-domestic-violence.html#sources

American Humane Association; American Humane Association: Cruelty to Animals Is NOT Free Speech or Entertainment. (2010, May). Pediatrics Week, 198.   Retrieved April 30, 2010, from ProQuest Health and Medical Complete. (Document ID: 2021237421).

Arluke, Arnold. Just a Dog : Understanding Animal Cruelty and Ourselves.
Philadelphia, PA, USA: Temple University Press, 2006. p 1.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10180196&ppg=9
Copyright © 2006. Temple University Press. All rights reserved.

Beers, Diane L.. For the Prevention of Cruelty : The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United States.
Athens, OH, USA: Ohio University Press, 2006. p 59.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10156421&ppg=75
Copyright © 2006. Ohio University Press. All rights reserved.


Garner, R. (2005). The Political theory of animal rights. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
What does the animal crush prohibition act mean to animals?. (2011, May 25). Retrieved from http://www.stopcrush.org/?p=992