Hello there! Today I’m writing this soapbox speech to talk to you about animal abuse and how its affecting animals negatively. The reason this is such a big issue is because it could both negatively affects animals and could reveal other household abuse (ex. child abuse, domestic abuse and even sexual assault).
According to HumanSociety.org "In one survey, 71 % of domestic violence victims reported that their abuser also targeted pets. In one study of families under investigation for suspected child abuse, researchers found that pet abuse had occurred in 88% of the families under supervision for physical abuse of their children.” Animal abuse could have a correlation to the things happening within a household. Ways that animal abuse negatively affects animals is that it will ruin and traumatize the animal’s entire life and can cause many mental and physical conditions. According to PopCenter.asu.edu “The most obvious harm caused by animal cruelty is the pain and suffering endured by the animal. In contrast to what is often presented by the media, happy endings in cases of physical cruelty are rare: the abuse is often ghastly and victim animals are rarely returned to good health or adopted by a loving family.” This shows that animal abuse affects animals both physically and mentally in a negative way.
Imagine a world where animals are never abused by their owners. There would be no abandoned or even beaten animals in the roads. Although they are just animals, they have lives too. They can eat, drink, and even think. So why would we want to harm or abuse these animals? They have just as valuable lives as us humans.
Tools we have to use to work on this issue are to improve pet shelters, so we could shelter more abused animals inside. An experience that I encountered in my life was when I read about a dog ditched on the highway by its own owners. This made me really upset and sad that these owners would risk their pets' lives by leaving them alone on the open highway. The thing that made me even more upset was that the abandoned dog had bruises, broken bones, and even scars after being abandoned. This made me want to help even more abused animals and spread awareness about it.
I need you to join me on my journey to prevent and stop animal abuse. We could start today by being thankful for your pets by always being there for you every step of the way. We could donate to local shelters and organizations that help shelter abandoned animals. For those of us with no pets, you could also help by going to your local animal shelter and adopting one of these animals. With these in mind, we could slowly achieve our goal of fully preventing animal abuse.