Essay #1 Animal Cruelty

Animal rights and the treatment of animals is a long debatable topic. Everyone has pets and most everyone treats there pets as on of the family, but there are still a number of people who treat animals very bad. You can find that some animals are used for experiments. Some are used as game and hunted for sport. Some are skinned and have there fur used for various things. Some are even used for horrible games and gambling, I think we all know about our good friend Michael Vick and his much mistreated pit bulls. But not everyone agrees that it’s all bad the clothing companies think real fur is ok and hunters think is ok to hunt. So who is right?

There are many organizations out there fighting for better treatment of animals. Most people think first of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA take a more passive approach to animal rights by holding protests and informing people about the problem through public education, cruelty investigations and legislation. Other groups that take a more aggressive approach include the ASPCA, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which has is own Humane Law Enforcement Department. The HLE investigates cases of animal curtly and takes legal actions against those accused of cruelty. Both organizations along with many others believe that animals have rights; to not be eaten, to not be killed, and to not be used as entertainment in deadly games, but take different approaches.

These organizations not only have to fight for animal rights but they also have to fight to believe that animals have rights in the first place. There are many people that give the argument that if we give rights to animals then we have to give rights to plants, insects, fungus, and any other living thing and that would just be absurd. Others feel that they can do whatever they want with the property they own including there pets. Many others especially in the scientific community believe that animal research is vital to finding cures and that animal research helps them to learn more about animals them selves along with humans. Most are taking better precautions to insure the animals are still well care for but still believe that animal research is needed.

Animal cruelty is just the beginning of so many more problems. It has been proven that there is a link between animal cruelty in children and young adults and violence and other serious crimes as adults. “It has been suggested that animal cruelty may be exhibited by 25% of Conduct Disorder children and that animal abuse may be the earliest symptom evident in Conduct Disorder children. In addition, several studies have found a significant relationship between childhood cruelty to animals and violence toward people”. Animal cruelty can lead to much bigger problems. The animals rights are not the only thing at stake, American society and our children are too.
The debate over animal cruelty and animal rights will probably go on forever. Do animals have rights, is it ok to use animals in medical research, should people go to jail over the mistreatment of animal, is it ok to eat animals, if we give rights to animals where will they draw the line. Everyone has an opinion all that has to be decided is who has the right one.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4437

http://www.hsus.org/animals_in_research/

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VB8-439DVG0-4&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=339c54e1d68e3804e932206a792cfbb4

http://www.peta.org/

http://www.aspca.org/