Once in a while, each of us have come across a form of cruelty to animals such as seal hunts, animal testing, fur farming, factory farming, trapping, hunting, etc. For many, they don’t recognize it as much of a big deal, but for people like me, animal cruelty is something that shouldn’t exist. The purpose of this article is to help you see how much easier it is to be kind to God’s wonderful creations.
What is Animal Cruelty?
Animal cruelty is the act of meeting out unpleasant treatment to animals by depriving them of food, shelter, and veterinary care. Also, torturing, maiming and killing of animals is considered animal cruelty. To fully understand the scope of animal cruelty, one has to put the numbers behind this form of abuse in perspective. Some of these numbers have been listed below;
- Roughly 85% of people arrested for animal abuse or cruelty has had multiple arrests in the past, with 70% having past felonies. So, if they have done it in the past, it’s likely they might do it again.
- Men are more likely to abuse animals than women with a ratio of 4:1 in almost all types of animal abuse.
- Less than 0.01% of animal abuse carried out are reported, annually. Consequently, this makes it hard to get a credible estimation of how many animals die from animal cruelty, yearly.
Animal cruelty has manifested itself in several ways such as fur farming, seal hunting, vivisection, animal testing, slaughterhouses and trapping, and has been muddied several times by different school of thoughts on what extent it has been perpetrated. However, the truth remains that animals across the world hasn’t been treated fairly by a lot of people.
The greatest sorrow and distress lie in the huge betrayal that these voiceless animals have to face, trusting us and looking up to us for protection, and often turning up to us with a love so unconditional and unlimited. To see this trust being broken in these insensitive and vicious ways is just so tragic to watch. It almost becomes impossible not to visualize the excessive bewilderment and deep-rooted fear they must go through when hands, so supposed to be used for giving nourishment and comfort, become tools for inflicting pain and torture.
The thing is, cruelty to animals comes in so many varied forms and manners that are really disturbing. It is not all about intentional acts of violence or aggressiveness; sometimes, it takes the form of acts of neglect-essentially, a failure to provide the basic care required by animals in order for them to live healthy and happy lives. Neglect is indeed one of the most common forms of cruelty found in our society, where animals are left to their fates without food, water, adequate shelter, or proper medical attention. A dog being starved in an enclosed backyard, alone and unattended, while a cat was thrown out into life in the open wild-these are just some disturbing forms of cruelty largely unnoticed by most of humanity. Of course, there is also the physical maltreatment of animals, which usually represents the maltreatment most people associate with the more general concept of cruelty to animals. The beatings, kickings, burning, and other acts devised to injure animals leave scars well beyond what can be detected on their physical bodies. The psychological damage of such abuse can leave these animals anxious, frightened, or even aggressive because of the traumatic experience.
Then there’s exploitation, another form of cruelty that many of the populace often overlook. The animals used in circuses, races, and other forms of entertainment are often put through very unnatural and cruel training and are housed under conditions wholly unacceptable. These animals are not entertainers who show humans a good time; they are flesh and blood living creatures that ought to be treated with utmost dignity and respect. And they shall not, under all circumstances, be used for exploitative practices either for profit or entertainment.
Even the systems on which many of us base our livelihoods have become major contributors to the problem in their own right. Consider factory farming: this is clearly a source of immense suffering and distress for a great many animals. The animals experience everything from confinement in small cages in which they can hardly move to painful procedures conducted without any form of anesthesia to deaden the pain, thus leaving the animals to lead a life full of misery and torture from start to finish. For many of us-especially those of us who find ourselves regularly in and out of grocery stores-it becomes all too easy to forget about this cruelty and suffering that is taking place when it is hidden behind the neatly arranged products on supermarket shelves. The grim, undeniable reality of these practices is, in fact, so depressing and deserving of our attention.
Also, let us not forget poaching and illicit trade in wild animals: it terrorizes whole species and brings immense agony to certain animals-elephants brutally killed for their tusks, tigers sought for their skin, and the list goes on. They all are victims of an industry which is fueled by greed and does not care about their right to life.
It takes courage to come out into the open and face those bitter and usually uninviting truths. These animals can’t speak for themselves regarding their needs or feelings; therefore, we must be the ones speaking on their behalf. Every cruelty witnessed reminds us how long the road remains ahead in this collective quest for a world that actually has treated animals with the compassion, kindness, and respect they so rightly deserve. And yet, beyond the importance of such samples, the question touches only the most superficial layer of the problem in view and brings us to an even graver and more urgent issue we must face: What steps can be taken, or even ought to be taken, as a countermove?
Being Kind to Animals
Statistically, an animal goes through abuse every minute in the US. An estimated 10 million die yearly in the US due to animal cruelty. These statistics sadly show the sad fate of animals in the US and around the world. Such lovely creatures who are meant to receive love and care are instead faced with the harsh realities of unkindness from humans. These unkind acts jeopardise their health and constantly put them in harm’s way, and despite efforts made to protect animal rights, there’s still no end in sight.
Animal cruelty can manifest itself in different ways which can be intentional or unintentional. For example, a practice called animal hoarding affects about 250,000 animals yearly, with most living in unsanitary conditions. Another example shows that 75% of exotic animals taken out of their natural habitat (which might be a harmless practice to save them) die within the first year. This highlights the impact that our seemingly “small” actions have on animals.
As humans we tend to classify ourselves as beings of higher intellect than these animals, but oftentimes act cruelly towards them. Think of humans as big brothers to these animals, what does this mean for us, then? It means that we have a responsibility to protect them and be kind to them. It means that we shouldn’t do harmful stuff to them just for laughs or be unnecessarily cruel to them for the sake of it.
If you hop on to the net these days, it’s easy to find various videos of animal’s cruelty, and these videos break my heart. Most times when I come across these videos, I’m filled with pain in my heart that stems from my inability to rescue these animals and show them all the love and care they deserve. However, the responsibility to be kinder to animals shouldn’t be the work of one person alone. That’s why I’m appealing to each and every one of you reading this article to make conscious efforts to be kinder to animals around you.
Being kind to animals doesn’t take much from one. You can start by showing that animal in your vicinity a bit more of care. Don’t kick them for no reason, report to the authorities if you find someone putting them in harm’s way, don’t hoard animals for the sake of it. It’s a one step process that will snowball into something bigger if we all play our parts.
Making conscious efforts to recognise and prevent animal abuse should be something every human strives for. We can hold each other accountable for how we treat animals around us. Turning a blind eye to animal abuse makes you as culpable for the act as the person carrying out the actual abuse. Animals can feel and understand, and it’s sad to see them been treated like they don’t matter. So, take a bold step to become kinder to animals around you, call out animal cruelty, and stand firmly with those that believe all animals are deserving of kindness.
Being kind to animals can make a whole lot of difference for you and for them. Be kind to these beautiful creatures and educate others on the need to be kind to them, also. It’s a gradual step but I pray we eventually get to see a world where kindness to animals prevails.
SHENITA ETWAROO © All rights reserved.
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