By Gabriella Grimando, staff reporter

Every day in the United States, animals are being beaten, tortured, and left to fend for themselves. They’re left in poor conditions, with little or no food to eat. These animals live their lives hopeless, without the compassion they deserve.

“Man’s best friend,” is a phrase a lot of people use to affectionately refer to a dog. It’s estimated that 70-80 million dogs are owned in the United States. Not including the 1,212 dogs that were reported to be abused in 2007. In media-reported animal cruelty cases, dogs—and pit bull-type dogs, in particular—are the most common victims of animal cruelty. The dogs that are playing with children, and relaxing in homes, are the same dogs being tortured elsewhere.

“Animal cruelty is not given enough attention. People often overlook the severity of this. If more people actually learned about what is going on, they would want to end it.” junior Binna Cha said.

Not only are dogs being abused, but cats, and other various animals are as well. Out of the 1,880 animal cruelty reports filed in 2007, 64.5% (1,212) involved dogs, 18% (337) involved cats, and 25% (470) involved other animals.

There are two known categories of animal cruelty: Passive cruelty and active cruelty.

Passive cruelty is when an animal is left to suffer, and neglected. Passive cruelty may seem less serious, but it’s a lot worse than it sounds. It can lead to a number or horrible things, including pain, suffering, and eventually death. Some examples of passive cruelty include starvation, dehydration, and the failure to receive medical care if needed.

Active cruelty, on the other hand, is when an animal is intentionally beaten, or harmed in anyway. Active cruelty should be taken very seriously, since it can be a sign that the abuser may have psychological problems, and can possibly continue to act violently towards other animals, and maybe even other humans.

What drives a person to purposely harm an innocent animal is unknown. An animal cruelty study says that “animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people and four times more likely to commit property crimes than are individuals without a history of animal abuse.” It is vital to report even the slightest act of cruelty against animals, because there are so many terrible outcomes that could happen if these attacks aren’t reported immediately.

Hundreds of animals die each year as a result of man’s thoughtless acts. Someone who hits, beats, and tortures an animal does not deserve to call themselves a human being. Animals don’t have a voice, or an opposable thumb, but they do have feelings. They can feel the pain being inflicted on them every day. This will only get worse, unless someone puts a stop to it.