David Sanchez
April 27, 2008
Animal Cruelty Imagine being a spectator of the most gruesome and inhumane act known to man. Imagine staring deep into a dog’s eye, a dog that is about to embark on the journey of his life. For many animals, including dogs, cats, and farm animals, death is the only destination listed on their life itinerary. Throughout the United states and the rest of the world, animals are being gruesomely cut up and skinned, being experimented on for research, and mainly being mistreated for the most important source of human pleasure. Money to most means success, especially industries like bio-medical research, farming industries, and entertainment; companies in this industry are willing to do anything in their power to gain profit and power, including taking lives of creatures, known as animals. Exploitation according to the Encarta World English Dictionary is “the use of development of something to produce a benefit”. That “something” in this case infers animals. As many as 115 million animals are tested and executed in U.S. laboratories every year. The sad truth about all the inhumane research experimenters are carrying on is that it is paid by the typical American taxpayer without their consent. That’s right, the experiments including the injection of chemicals into rat’s stomachs, the isolation chambers where monkeys are separated from their mothers, and the enhancing of a dogs thigh muscle tissue is all made available by animal product consumers. All those products that say “product safe for animals” are products that are derived from laboratories where the animals are exposed to cruelty and animal exploitation. Of course the government does not tell consumers where their money is being spent, or how many animals are being killed. In fact not even the government keeps track of how many animals are being experimented on or killed, because the government and experimenters believe that certain animals, like mice and rats, are not animals that should be counted. Animal research and testing is a multibillion-dollar industry that is based on vast public funding and involving an intricate network of corporations, the government and laboratories. Cage producers, food producers, animal breeders, dealers and transporters are also involved in this industry. The main reason why animals are exposed to this kind of research is the fact that, animals that are imprisoned and exploited cannot defend themselves against abuse, this makes the industry and its people produce profit from such heartless acts. According to Professor Charles R. Magel, animal exploitation rests on a logical contradiction, he states, “Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are like us.' Ask the experimenters why it is morally OK to experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are not like us.' This makes complete sense in the fact that experimenters believe humans react the same way animals do to drugs and what not, thus according to them, their results of such tests with animals will be similar to the results if humans were being tested. At the same time experimenters believe that it is not morally ok to test on humans but yes on animals because there is overpopulation and not enough homes for these animals. Experimenters are taking advantage of animals because animals cannot fight back, animals cannot tell the experimenters if it hurts when they test drugs on them without knowing how it is going to react. Not only is animal cruelty practiced for money but also for entertainment, take for instance one of the biggest events of the year. The Rodeo, millions of people attend this long event for some sort of entertainment. Two of the most popular showcases at the rodeo are bull riding and bronco busting. These ghastly events involve attaching bucking straps to the animals’ groin as the rider mounts it. As soon as the gates are open the straps are pulled tightly around its sensitive flank area. The consequences of a combination of the bucking straps, the sharp spurs the contestants wear on their boots and the horrific shocks the animals receive in the gate result in the animals’ wild and unpredictable behaviors. Most of these animals are calm and passive creatures, they only buck when the flank strap is attached to their groin. They are simply trying to free themselves of the device that results in pain for them. Their bucking continues even when the rider dismounts the animal. It is not until one of the pick-men removes the strap that the bull or horse wearing the rodeo tool ceases to buck. The horses used for bronco busting are easily injured during this event. The article, Breaking their Bones: Rodeo Event, proclaims that, “The horses can trip and fall, and slam into the ground or other obstacles such as fences and rails. Horses with broken legs are frequently destroyed at rodeos.” (Breaking their Bones). This sort of entertainment or pleasure that people get from watching these animals suffer is clearly not right; it is even more of a problem when people pay to see this. In the agriculture business, the factory farming system aims to maximize output while minimizing costs. Farm animals such as cows, calves, pigs, duck etc… are kept in tight, jam-packed sheds with tiny cages; Cages that don’t even let the animal move around or lay down. The animals duty is to do nothing, they are deprived from exercise, all they have to do is stand in place and take drugs that farmers give them in order to produce more flesh, eggs or milk for human consumption. The suffering of animals on farms similarly face suffering but each animal is exposed to different types of cruelty. Chickens in the United States are bred and drugged to grow so quickly that their hearts, lungs, and limbs often can't keep up. Hens used for eggs live six or seven to a battery cage the size of a file drawer, thousands of which are stacked tier upon tier in huge, filthy warehouses. Cattle are castrated, their horns are ripped out of their heads, and third-degree burns from branding are inflicted on them, all without any pain relief. Cows used for their milk are drugged and bred to produce unnatural amounts of milk; they have their babies stolen from them shortly after birth and sent to notoriously cruel veal farms so that humans can drink the calves' milk. Pigs on factory farms are confined to crates so small that they are unable to turn around or even lie down comfortably. When they have finally grown large enough, animals raised for food are crowded onto trucks and transported over many miles through all weather extremes to the slaughterhouse. Those who survive this journey will have their throats slit, often while they are still fully conscious. You would think that maybe the farming industry could back up its reason of why animals are being treated this way, more flesh means more food for us, enhanced food tastes better. But there are other ways to take this, why be so cruel, if they are going to die anyways why not give them their last minutes of heaven, treated the way they should .In fact why doesn’t the community just change eating habits and all become vegetarians. Obviously it is just an idea, something that big cannot possibly be overcome, but a lot of it can be reduced. A lot is being done to overcome animal cruelty, but the only problem is that not enough facts about the truth are being exposed to the community. The biggest organization towards ending animal exploitation and cruelty is PETA; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have many sub organizations that concentrate on more specific problems. For example PETA’s GoVEg, this is an organization that targets concerned person of what they are eating, giving them alternate resources that won’t hurt animals. Another big organization that PETA has is the STOP animal testing organization, its name explains it all, it is an organization that provides people with nothing but the truth about animal testing, this organization blames an aspect of animal cruelty on the government and the community, but with strong enough facts to support and make even the consumers of animal tested products realize that they are the ones helping with the mistreatment of animals. Another way to overcome this problem is to involve the government, not that they aren’t already involved in it, but we need to put a stop to this. Government controls the people, its clearly possible to make a change in animals lives, It should be illegal for a company to test their product on animals, rather find something else that wont involve any physical or emotional pain to any living organism. Animals should be protected in every shape and form possible, only a sick minded person would do such things as skinning animals that are alive. It is merely impossible to know the exact number of animal cruelty cases, due to the fact that many of them are unnoticed or unreported. It is also impossible to answer the question “why do people abuse animals?” there are many reasons why this is done and many people view abuse differently. But one thing is for certain; animal cruelty in any form whether it is for research, entertainment or human pleasure, is unacceptable. Animals have as much rights as humans do. And it is the responsibility of communities to protect those rights, either by law or organizations. There are many alternatives to living the same way, without even harming an animal. It is an inhumane act that should bring a low or no sense of pride to each person practicing it.