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Animal Cruelty Takes Many Forms

April 03, 2007, 12:0AM MT

April is Animal Cruelty Prevention Month

April is Animal Cruelty Prevention Month

By Judy Vorreuter, founder and director of Animal Advocates of the Finger Lakes.

April is Stop Animal Cruelty month. What exactly is animal cruelty? Which animals suffer? What kind of people perpetrate it? How to report it? And a personal pledge to work to stop it. These will be the subjects of my April columns.

Most people seldom think about animal cruelty; seldom see instances of it. But a relative few agonize over it and work to stop it because they are in touch with it almost every day.

These are the workers and volunteers in shelters, rescue organizations, animal welfare, animal rights and animal law organizations. We are now united by the Internet and share our knowledge of animal cruelty (and many other animal issues).

There are so many ongoing instances of animal cruelty in our society and yet there are small and large actions that each of us can take in our daily lives that make a difference.

We can become vegetarians or vegans; we can buy only cosmetics, cleaning products etc. that are not tested on animals; we can donate to the animal organizations that are the front line in the fight; we can adopt only from shelters and rescue groups; we can report suspected cases of cruelty.

Here are several types of animal cruelty that exist and are tolerated in our society:

€ Puppy mills - lives of misery

€ Bludgeoning of baby seals for their pelts

€ Dog fighting, cock fighting

€ Horrendous farm practices - animals trapped in lifelong misery

€ Abandonment of dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, rabbits etc.

€ Slaughter house practices - terror and pain

€ Leg hold traps

€ Hunting of confined animals for sport; Internet hunting

€ Circus practices

€ Shelters still using inhumane methods of killing

€ The treatment of downed animals

€ The inhumane treatment in the fur industry of fur bearing animals

€ Owners of pets who are unfit, neglectful, abusive including those who tie a dog outside for their lifetime.

€ Laboratory experimentation on animals

I have discovered that even people who care about animals can personally witness an instance of animal cruelty or neglect and do nothing about it, not even to make a quick phone call. Are they just in a hurry? Do they see reporting it as risky? Do they assume that someone else will do it? Or perhaps they don't know where and how to report it. Do they think it is the right of an owner to do anything to their “owned” animal?

I'm talking about seeing an emaciated horse standing without shelter in a field. Or someone smacking around a puppy. Or a confused and frightened dog or puppy on the road. Or an injured dog in the ditch. Or someone torturing a cat. Or a thin sad dog tied to something with a 3-foot rope.

It is an interesting and puzzling phenomenon that applies not only to witnessing animal abuse but also witnessing other types of crime.

“Dateline NBC” recently did a program on the subject of witnesses who turned away from an act of crime and did nothing.

NBC's Bill Stanton posed as a criminal who broke in to cars by smashing their windows. He did this in broad daylight where there were many passersby.

Only two of 15 reported what they saw to police. Stanton also broke into homes in a well-trafficked neighborhood and in plain sight with the same result. “Dateline's” conclusion: We are too focused on ourselves; we wear blinders when something we know is wrong is happening that we could do something about: we often take the tact that someone else will do something.

On the other hand every now and then we hear of a spectacular act of compassion even at considerable personal risk. On another TV news program recently there was a story about a firefighter who donned a waterproof suit and jumped into a frozen lake to save the life of a dog. Someone had called the fire department.

We must all be the eyes and ears of the authorities whose responsibility it is to investigate and stop instances of animal cruelty and neglect. In most cases, it is the local SPCA that has cruelty investigators that can legally go onto property to investigate and who can issue summonses and follow through. When a witness is unable to reach the SPCA he/she should call a law enforcement agency - city police, sheriff, state troopers. None of these agencies can do anything without our help.

Judy Vorreuter is the founder and director of Animal Advocates of the Finger Lakes.

Reprinted with permission from The Citizen, Auburn, NY

Read The Story Here

Kent County SPCA

Posted by Patricia Haddock, Best Friends Network

What You Can Do:

Visit Pet-Abuse.com to learn how to help.
Pet-Abuse.com

Visit Best Friends Archives to learn link with animal abuse and human violence.
Best Friends Archives

Comments

Posted April 26, 2007, 12:34PM by michelle

Also please see this link:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/04/prweb515644.htm

Posted April 24, 2007, 12:58PM by wiwaci

I volunteer at the Owen County Humane Society in Spencer, Indiana. I walk dogs, clean cages and help with fund raisers. Approximately 2 weeks ago one of our paid staff found an emaciated rottweiler along highway 46 near Spencer. She stopped to help this poor unfortunate soul. I was told this "adult" rottweiler weighed 35lbs when brought into our town's vet, he was blind and had almost every kind of intestinal worm you can think of. Our vet is hoping the blindness is temporary due to starvation. He has been receiving IV's to rehydrate him and give him nourishment. At first, he refused to eat due to his emaciated condition but as time went by he has been eating small amounts. I was told when offered water, the dog struggled to stand before he would drink, he didn't want to lay down when drinking. His caregivers would try to support him as he drank, but after a short time he would have to lay back down due to his weakened condition. I have not seen him yet, but plan to go by the vets office tomorrow to get some pictures of him and write a story about his valiant stuggle to survive, in hopes that our humane society may get some "guardian angel donations" to help offset his vet bill and that some kind soul out there might want to give this beautiful soul a loving home when he is healthy enough to be adopted. They are calling him "Rhett Butler" from Gone with the Wind. The address and telephone number of our humane society is below, if anyone who reads this is interested in finding out more:
Owen County Humane Society
P.O.B. 329
2014 Romona Road
Spencer, Indiana 47460
(812) 829-6247

Posted August 23, 2008, 5:5PM by crisie

well im against animal abuse. and i know of a place where there are over 50 cats and they all
have diseases and have no food to eat.
the women that owns them said that which ever
ones i can catch i can have well i have caught 3 took them home and they died within a week or two
bacause of the problems they had were just too
overwhelming and they died. it really hurts me because i dont think i can do anything to help them
because i am 14 and i dont know what to do or who to call this place is in Marshall Illinois if you have any numbers i can call or places in that area i can
contact please let me know.!
my email is thomaslshaw@verizon.net
give me any info you can.

Posted September 29, 2008, 10:13AM by hello_kitty_meow

Animal cruelty is horrible and anyone who does it is a horrible person. Animals do not deserve to be treated like crap, and people who like to hurt animals are sick. Sick and sadistic!

Posted April 11, 2007, 10:56AM by kendra

Does anybody know of any really reliable online databases that list things like companies that test on laboratory animals, designers or clothing manufactureres who are known to use animal products in their clothing, or any other companies that are linked to animal cruelty?

Posted April 14, 2007, 2:21PM by mzurovsk

A good place to find resources about cruelty-free products is peta.org
I buy wonderful coffee from there, and you can request a free cruelty-free shopping guide.
One thing to consider--many products like makeup and shampoo say "not tested on animals" and such, but most that I found in my home had animal products in them, but you'd never know it because the names are so obscure. There's a list of animal ingredients on the peta website as well.

Posted April 12, 2007, 10:44AM by michelle

Kendra-
Here are a couple of links you may find interesting.
Click Here for Book by Heather Chase
Click Here for Vegetarian Site

Posted April 12, 2007, 12:3PM by ratmom

The public transportation system in Boston uses a phrase: "See something, say something." We should all use this as our philosophy for helping animals. If you can't help directly, start calling around until you find the right person or organization that can help. It can vary widely. Some police or fire departments will help, some won't. Move on if they won't help. I don't know of any area that doesn't have some group that will help animals.