By Alexis Cabrera, Staff Writer
CRUELTY: All animals are amazing and abusive acts are awful!
Animal cruelty dates back to the 12th century, after dog fights became more widespread and known. Animal abuse can be attributed to many things. Among those are abandonment, failure to provide shelter or water, manipulation, or the purposeful tortue of an animal while it is under the owner’s care. After a person takes responsibility for an animal by buying, breeding, or adopting it, it is their obligation to provide and make sure the animal is receiving all its basic necessities . When these needs haven’t been met because of the caretaker, it is called animal cruelty. Along with these forms of animal cruelty, some main ones are dog fights, makeup testing on animals, and neglect.
Dogfighting is a bloodsport, where dogs are forced to fight to the death while owners bid on the dog that will win. When not in a fight , the dogs are kept on heavy logging chains. The dog that dies is the loser, and if a dog survives, it is repeatedly forced to fight until it too is killed. Many dogs are injected with steroids, and some dogfighters even sharpen their dogs’ teeth, cut off their ears and tail (to prevent another dog from latching on), and add roach poison to their food so that their fur might taste bad to other dogs. Once in the dog pit, the dogs that don’t want to participate are killed and used for baitBut dogfighting is an underground bloodsport. Out of sight out of mind for many people. But cruelty toward animals is also present in everyday life.
Many makeup companies test their products on animals without any hesitation. These same products put ‘not tested on animals’ to increase sales even if their claim is a lie. Brands like Victoria’s Secret, Maybelline NewYork, O.P.I., Benefit, and NARS all pay companies from China to test their products on animals.Other countries like those in the European Union, as well as Israel, and India have banned the sales of any products previously tested on animals. Even though the rest of the world is moving away from makeup tests on animals, the U.S. seems to move towards it. But animal cruelty is not just the actions of many people. Even individual owners can be cruel.
Neglect is when an owner fails to look after their animal. Animals suffering from neglect struggle with receiving basic needs like water, food and shelter. Without exposing these helpless animals to us through television and media, our society will continue to ignore animal cruelty—even when dogs that were once neglected or a part of the dogfighting ring are rescued, owners feel the need to keep them on heavy chains, which just traumatises the dog even further. Some animals are starved till their ribs are shown, usually getting worse until police’s attention to the animal is received. Sadly many of these cases of neglect sometimes go unnoticed, leaving the animal to pass away due to starvation and dehydration. Unfortunately, without support from other humans, many horrible outcomes occur when an animal is neglected and left in horrible conditions. Horrific fates are suffered by chained dogs across the globe everyday.
Ultimately, the owner of an animal is responsible for providing and maintaining the animal in good health. When these needs have not been met to the animal because of the caretaker, it is animal cruelty. But it is not too late to stop animal cruelty. If you would like to help this ongoing situation, consider: reaching out to shelters in need by donating or volunteer work to be a part of the change and remember to call the local shelter when a nearby struggling animal is in need.