YATW Blog #1 - Animal Cruelty Must End!

 Hello, my name is Kara Heenan and I am a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. For a project in English 1, Ms. Dunn told us to find an issue in the world that we really care about. The topic I chose is Animal Cruelty. I am against any type of animal abuse. Animals are living, breathing things just like us and they deserve to be treated the same way we do. The type of animals I am mainly going to be focusing on throughout this blog are the two common household pets, dogs and cats.

 First, I would like to discuss the types of abuse there are to these animals and the statistics. According to the Humane Society Hall County,

• 32% of it is neglect or abandonment

• 12%  of it is hoarding

• 11% of it is shooting

• 9% of it is fighting

• 7% of it is beating

 A huge factor in Animal Cruelty in our country are puppy mills. There is no legal definition of a puppy mill, but the ASPCA defines it as "a large-scale commercial dog breeding operation where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs." It has been estimated that there are at least 10,000 puppy mills in the U.S. More than 14 states have no laws to even address puppy mills. In these places, dogs are forced to be in cages most of their lives with no room to play or exercise. These places are crawling with dogs affected by illnesses, wounds, and diseases. No one even seems to care!

What an average puppy mill looks like

 Another factor, especially in this country, is hoarding. Hoarding is keeping a high number of animals as pets without being able to take care of them properly. Approximately 900 to 2000 cases are discovered in America with a quarter of a million animals falling victim. Hoarding is usually a side effect of a mental illness in a person. It is a form of neglect. Most of these poor animals are living in a disgusting home without proper care or love but the owner of these dogs do not realize they are doing harm.

 All a dog or cat really needs is love and care. They don’t ask for much. One thing people forget is that these animals have actual feelings like us. We as humans have no right to treat them as they are less important than we are. I hope after reading this article it really opens your eyes to how important it is to treat animals with respect.

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A homeless man with his dog. All you need is love.