Everyone likes to walk into their home at the end of a long, hard day and be greeted by their most adoring dog, with its wagging tail and kisses, or have their favorite cat who they sometimes feel is their best friend, come snuggle up on their lap at the end of the day rubbing their head up against you because they want some attention. Right? There has been an enormous rise in domestic animals in America, bringing it close to “165 million domesticated animals today” (Animal-abuse 1), and Americans are spending close to “$46 billion a year on their pets” (Maloney 7). Most people would assume that this is the all-American dream, but the harsh reality is that there is an enormous amount of animal cruelty happening in this country that needs to be put to an end.
Animal cruelty is essentially the infliction of suffering or harm upon defenseless animals, for purposes other than human self-defense. There are two basic categories of animal cruelty which are intentional cruelty, or neglect. Examples of intentional cruelty are dog and cock fighting, or any other harm to an animal on purpose by torturing or killing the animal. Examples of neglect are depriving an animal of its basic living needs such as food and water, shelter, and veterinary care, or simply not knowing how to properly care for the specific animal, in which case, education is needed (Maloney 7). Even though there has been an enormous increase in the awareness and reporting of animal abuse, there is still a major problem throughout the country with putting this abuse to a halt (Maloney 7).
Public Depictions of Animal Cruelty
Since most actions of animal cruelty happen in the privacy of peoples’ homes, there is little to no light shown on those cases, since sometimes its hard to even get them reported with dignified evidence (Animal cruelty 7). Although, some high-profile actions of animal cruelty are being recognized and are being treated fairly harsh. In the article titled “It’s a Dog’s Life”, Michael Vick, an N.F.L. quarterback; is noted with overseeing dog fighting activities where the animals were tortured and then killed in the end. While he is being faced with potentially being locked up for five years, others are looking at this public case wondering if this sentence is reasonable. “In many jurisdictions in the United States, a five-year sentence exceeds the maximum allowed for spousal abuse or assault” (America 4). There is question whether this is a fair punishment, or if this is a disturbing message to the human victims that have physically abused by their partners, that the American household pets are more important than the American people (America 4)? Another public case is about banning the so called “crush videos”, where small animals such as mice or squirrels, are crushed most commonly with a woman’s high heeled shoe. These videos are known to have a dominatrix appeal to them, and give sexual gratification to those watching. People with foot fetishes often are the audience for these types of videos. In 1999 there was a law created to settle Congresses worries about the nature of these films (Animal-abuse 1). In an NPR article, Alicia Shepard expresses her thoughts on the crush videos being produced. “There’s no doubt “crush videos” are offensive. You don’t have to see them to know that crushing a small animal to death with high heels is hideous” (Shepard 1). Wayne Pacelle, the current president of the Humane Society of the United States, said “hundreds of crush videos appeared on the internet after the federal appeals court ruled against [the law]...this court ruling is going to accelerate the trend” (Court Voids Law 1).
Solving the Problem
Many different approaches have been made towards making this problem go away. There was a proposal of a law made which prohibits the depiction of animal cruelty. The Supreme Court rejected this proposal because they felt it was too broad of a law, worrying that it might possibly be interpreted as including animals which were hunted with a bow and arrow, or bullfights, which not all the time would be considered cruel treatment. The government also believes that videos of animal cruelty might be on the same level of cruelty as child pornography (Court Voids Law 1). The Supreme Court suggested that another proposal be made being more specific with the matter at hand. “It has been difficult to prosecute people who take part in violence against animals with a camera rolling, but not showing their faces” (Court Voids Law 1). Certain groups around the country, such as the Humane Society of the United States, are strongly encouraging that the specifications of this proposal are re-created and become a law, so that cruelty towards animals will be considered a crime. “The Humane Society...[stresses] that the ban on pictures of animal torture lessens the abuse of animals and promotes public morality” (Animal-abuse 1). This law making it a crime to treat animals with cruelty they believe will slowly begin to make this issue disappear, and the animals being harmed will start to have a voice for their rights. Other cases about animal cruelty have presented people with the idea that this potential law might be inflicting with the right of free speech. “Our culture is filled with images of repulsive activities and expressions of repulsive ideas, and our free speech tradition stands against it...sending people to jail for it” (Animal-abuse 1). People already understand that animal cruelty is a crime, and that it should not be done, the question is, how far are they willing to take it to make it illegal to have images depicting these actions, and is that inflicting on free speech? Free speech advocates around the nation are in favor of not making videos of animal cruelty illegal. “Speech is protected whether it’s popular or unpopular, harmful or unharmful” (Court Voids Law 1). These people think that the videos are a version of free speech and they should not be monitored or censored.
In other situations, some people are potentially taking the wrong road in trying to correct this issue of preventing animal cruelty around the nation. A young 28 year old boy, Kevin Kjonaas, who pays his rent “by working at a doggy daycare”, is currently in a heap of trouble with the government because they believe he has terrorist tendencies (Maag 19). Kjonaas was until recently, the president of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC USA), an animals rights group. Huntingdon houses a company which tests household products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals on animals, and there has also been speculation that some employees of this company have been torturing the animals for fun (Maag 19). Kjonaas’s group created a website, and he “helped organize protests in front of workers’ homes, and when he couldn’t make it to a demonstration, he posted other people’s accounts of the event even when they included acts of vandalism” (Maag 19). Even though Kjonaas and his group believed they were doing good for the community in bringing awareness to this company and their behavior, that might have been what got them in trouble in the end. “He saw himself as a conduit for information. Since it wasn’t [his] words going on the site, [he] felt [he] had no place to censor” (Maag 19). Even though some of the things that were posted on their groups website, were not Kjonaas’s words, his group still used terror as their main scare tactic, and they seemed like a threat to the community. Kjonaas was arrested and is awaiting trial which is believed will take up to three months.
Your Pet's Hero
Other people are taking the correct path on preventing animals cruelty and bringing awareness to people around the globe. A very honorable man, Fred Myers, one of the co-founders of the Humane Society of the United States, created this organization because of deep convictions he had about animal cruelty. He led campaigns against
animal slaughter and laboratory animal use, and he was trying to strengthen standards of practice in animal shelters across the nation. Myers and his other co-founders saw cruelties all over the nation and decided to resolve this issue by creating strategies that would affect more than just the local organizations, and today the Humane Society is the largest animal organization in the world. His vision on making animal cruelty awareness throughout the country has brought respect to many animals, and thus saving their lives. Fred Myers and other people just like him, should be who the community looks up to when they are trying to prevent animal cruelty. People should not return cruelty with cruelty, because then nobody is standing above the rest.
Animal cruelty in this nation is and will continue to be, an ongoing problem, which may never have a correct fix. People all over are trying to prevent this problem, sometimes putting their own reputations and their lives at risk, for the rights of these animals. Animals are our friends and they deserve the same amount of love and respect that us humans need to survive as well. Treat your animals with the golden rule. Treat them how you yourself would like to be treated.
