Animal Cruelty – An Inhumane Act

Image Source: Animal Legal Defence Fund

Every day countless cats, dogs, and many other animals suffer and eventually die at the hands of the same people who are supposed to care for them or protect them. Physical violence, emotional abuse, and other types of barbarism are daily realities for any animal. They are not gifted with communication skills as we humans do and that is why one of us should stand up for them and become their voice.

What is animal cruelty?

 

Animal cruelty is the abuse or neglect of an animal. Some type of animal cruelty involves willingly putting animals in situations that harm or scare them. Most animal cruelty investigations are into large-scale operations that victimize hundreds or thousands of animals at the same time. 

 

Cases of animal cruelty can have several categories. Some of they are –

 

1. Animal abuse – Willful harming animals, when human tortures animals because they have an accident in the house or something where the animal had no interference.

 

2. Animal neglect – Ignoring pet animals or disinterest, when a person does not know how to care for that animal. Knowing that the animal sustained an injury still owner does not take interest in his pet’s veterinary care.

 

3. Animal exploitation – Using animals for entertainment, animal fighting is widely seen as good entertainment. Animal circus is another example of the same where animals are trained with barbaric devices.

 

4. Animal testing – animals are used as test subjects in labs, from many decades animals are being used as test subjects for all kinds of products from medicines to research.

 

Why do people treat animals cruelly?

 

People doing such deeds are no different from us, they don’t have horns or long teeth. They can be your neighbor, your friend, your teacher. In most cases, a person who commits this crime doesn’t feel that animal cruelty is an immoral act. He/she can justify the act in several ways like –

 

1. Viewing animals as objects – animals are often viewed as objects. People who victimize animals think that if they own an animal then they own their life as well and no one can tell them how they should treat their pet.

 

2. Using animals for monetary gain – many cases of animal cruelty originate from the desire to make money. Forcefully breeding, selling animal body parts, animal fighting, etc are some cases that are practiced widely.

 

3. Assuming animals as emotionless creatures – some people believe that animals don’t truly emote and humans are the only animals that can feel pain, fear, sadness, joy, despair, and hope.

 

Image Source: Change.org

What can you do to combat animal cruelty?

 

Animals can’t speak on their own, they need a voice, they need us. They can’t end animal cruelty on their own, so we have to step in and let people who perform such acts know that this is not okay. It's easy to feel despair when we hear about people who inhumanly torture or kill animals. Cruelty and cowardice are the causes of such acts and at the same time courage and kindness are needed to fight and end the same

 

1. Joining animal rights organizations – we can help either by donating our time or by money and that’s why it’s a primary solution against animal cruelty.

 

2. Preventing animal hoardings – such cases when animals are not nurtured properly are seen widely they are often kept in cages and treated horribly instead of what they are meant to do. If any such place is spotted then it should be reported instantly.

 

3. Spreading awareness – help children develop empathy for animals starting from their learning age. 

 

Conclusion 

The problem is that the number of people who are fighting for the safety and rights of animals right now are not enough. If everyone started to look at animals besides their pets as fellow creatures who share this air with us, this planet with us, we would face far fewer cases of cruelty towards animals. 

Written By - Dewang Singh

Edited By - Anamika Malik