by Nicole Yu, staff reporter
Animal abuse, or animal cruelty, is when people hurt, torture or don’t bother to take care of animals, whether it’s a pet, a farm animal, or a wild one. Animal cruelty is illegal, but people continue to hurt animals every single day, leaving defenseless animals beaten and left out on the streets to fend for themselves.
“It would be a lie to say that animal cruelty is becoming a big issue only now. Unfortunately, even though technologies are improving and news are reported almost instantly, they usually do little to show how animals are abused,” junior Cleo Zhang said.
Ways to prevent animal abuse
People that abuse animals don’t understand that animals are living creatures and they are hurt both emotionally and physically by being abused. It is a common issue in our world that not many people help to try preventing it.
There are companies like Mercy for Animals, ASPCA, or PAWs, who raise awareness about animal abuse but it doesn’t help much to stop it. An interview with Mercy for Animals campaign assistant Brian Alexander shows his perspective on animal abuse.
“Two very simple and effective ways to help prevent abuse and cruelty to farmed animals are to choose a healthy diet free of animal products and to advocate on behalf of the animals through grassroots outreach, leafleting, social media and pressuring companies and legislators to adopt animal welfare policies and laws,” Mercy for Animals campaign assistant Brian Alexander said.
Why some people abuse animals
“Animal abuse is just terrible, just because they’re not human doesn’t mean it’s right to cause any creature pain,” junior Sophie Chianese said.
Some people believe that since animals aren’t human, they’re allowed to abuse them, but animals live and breathe just like humans. Just because they don’t look the same doesn’t mean they don’t feel any pain or emotion. Nassau County SPCA Detective Bob Sowers talks about his passion about stopping animal abuse.
“People have emotional and/or mental issues, they’re unbalanced because of different reasons, might be because of a person. We just had a woman going through a divorce and her ex-husband hurt her dog. There’s a multitude of reasons: some, like I said before, are sick, or some do it for fights. There is a direct correlation between abusers and serial killers, it escalates quickly from abusing an animal to killing a person,” Nassau County SPCA Detective Bob Sowers said.
Abused Animals
Many abused animals are ones that people wouldn’t think of much, such as chicken. Farm animals are abused more than pets because they’re needed for their produce, and farmers are merciless when it comes to collecting the products so it can be sold to manufacturers.
“Chickens are, by far, the most abused animals. Of the more than 9 billion animals killed for food annually in the United States, 95% are chickens. Chickens endure the most miserable of living conditions on factory farms and are subjected to wanton abuse and cruelty,” Mercy for Animals campaign assistant Brian Alexander said.
