Dear Next President,

I am a student at West Albany High School, concerned about the current animal abuse issues in our nation. It is outrageous that people still think it is okay to take advantage of harmless creatures. People hear about the numerous cases of animal abuse, but most cases aren’t even reported. I wonder about the animals that are abandoned in the big world or living an abused life, and I can’t even imagine what they’re thinking. Animals that are being abused don’t always comprehend why everything is happening, and all they ask for is love. Enforcing the laws against animal abuse and making the consequences stricter will assist in bringing down the number of animals being abused every day.

According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, an average of 1,920 animal abuse cases are reported each year. Around 60% is towards dogs while 18% is towards cats. The law against animal abuse in Oregon is the second best in the states, ruling that intentional or recklessly causing physical harm or causing the death of an animal has a fine up to $5,000 and/or imprisonment of one year. Maliciously killing or torturing an animal has a fine of up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years. Anyone with these penalties is prohibited from possessing a domestic animal from five to fifteen years. However, the abuse remains persistent.

Animal shelters are a great way to house abandoned and unwanted animals. Every year, an approximate of 7.6 million animals are placed in shelters, with only 2.7 million being adopted. There are so many animals being delivered into shelters that they tend to run out of room. How do shelters fix this problem? According to ASPCA Pet Statistics, euthanization occurs to 2.7 million animals each year. A simple but expensive solution may be to build or expand on current shelters. Since that might take a while to fundraise, an additional solution is to gather more volunteers for foster care. Transferring stray animals to a temporary home can help build on their relationship with people and provide them with joyful memories. I visit my local animal shelters regularly and I’ve noticed that even though the animals are treated well and taken outside to play, their spirit is still down from being locked inside of a cell. We should do our best to inspire everyone to get involved with the care of animals.

Why do people act as if one animal species is to be treated well but not the other? One may treat his or her dog like royalty, while the same person will beat and throw out a cat. I long for the day that we can treat all animals equally with the respect that they deserve. It’s possible that a semi-abusive owner may not know how to properly treat or respond to the actions of their pet. When adopting or caring for an animal, one should do continuous research and learn how to guide their pet to behave the best way possible. Animals should be praised, not beaten.

Animal abusers are sick, disgusting people that need to be dealt with and informed that what they are doing is unacceptable. I think you, as the president, should express your thoughts about this continuous issue. As people, we are supposed to look after and appreciate our pets as if they were our own children. We need more people learning how to correctly discipline their pets to continue with a good and healthy bonding experience. Work to get more volunteers at shelters and foster care. Animal rescue organizations are also a big factor on rescuing strays to get them to wherever they deserve to be. Let’s figure this out as a nation to secure the safety of an entire population.

Sincerely,

Cléa W.