Dear President,

I am writing to you today to address the issue of animal abuse. This is an issue I personally feel very deeply about along with many other people and organizations. All 50 states should treat animal abuse as a felony but only 15 out of the 50 states do. This means that only 30% of America treats animal abuse as a major crime. Meanwhile, animals in the other 35 states are being beaten and killed and the abusers are getting off without a punishment that they deserve for the crime.

I have seen many disturbing images of cats, dogs, horses, and other animals that were beaten, how a person could perform these unthinkable and tragic acts is truly awful. I read stories about dogs being tied to the back of cars and dragged at high speeds with the car only stopping every couple minutes for the animal to throw up and then repeating the process again. Another story I read about is a group of people who cut the tendons on a horse's legs so it could no longer walk or even stand. The people who committed these horrendous acts got a small sentence for jail time when they deserve the maximum amount for what they have done.

The writer at global mail, Stanley Coren, says “Science has been able to demonstrate that the mind of a dog is roughly equivalent to that of a human child 2 or 3 years of age. Like a toddler the dog has all the basic emotions, fear, anger, joy, disgust, surprise, and love.” So if it is scientifically proven that dogs feel the same emotions as a child does that make it okay to beat and or kill a child and escape with only a minimal punishment? Dogs should be treated as humans in the court of law because they experience the same emotions.

A writer at current events weekly stated “Psychologists, experts who study behavior, say animal cruelty often stems from a desire by the abuser to exercise power over helpless creatures. Animal abuse is a very dangerous sign , especially when it occurs in children or in teens. Many of the most notorious killers in U.S. history- Jeffrey Dahmer, David Berkowitz, Albert de Salvor- had a history of torturing animals when they were younger.” This means if we crack down on animal abusers now we will have a better chance at stopping the killing of humans before it even happens.

We need to stop the abuse of animals. We need to have a harsher punishment when people do abuse animals and most of all we need to make animal abuse a felony in all 50 states of America. It is up to you, the president of the united states of America to crack down on this issue and stand up for the innocent creatures who don't have a voice and can't fight for themselves.

-Cassidy  H