Dear next president:

Animal abuse is a big problem in our world, and it needs to end.There is no reason for people to hurt animals. They can’t even defend themselves. How could we do this to these poor animals?

I feel a good way to stop animal abuse would be to punish the abuser. The answer may not be jail because I don’t think an overnight stay in jail would affect them that much. We should do something more along the lines of what they did to the animals. Or we could have an organization where animals who are being abused go; like what they do with children who are being abused. This agency is known as C.P.S (child protective services) where they take children who are being abused or have a bad family life and make a safe environment for them.We do have a humane society that will take the animals in, but within a certain amount of time if they are not adopted they will be euthanized. We could make the humane society more like CPS by having people who would foster the animals on hand. So the second we get an animal in need of care we can just contact the person who is signed up to care for the next animal.

Going back to what we could do to the abuser, we could not let them eat all day or have them waxed and not let them talk or tie them up. Some would say this is cruel, but it's what they are doing to the animals who've done nothing wrong. They deserve punishment and if we really want to put a stop to this issue, we need to make a powerful move and actually stop it. This kind of punishment might work, and it's worth a shot.

One counter argument could be that the animal is vicious and deserves what is happening. To this, I say that the animal was not properly trained, therefore it is the owner's fault. If they adopt the animal and mistreat the animal due to its lack of training then there should be a class in the nearby area where they could drop the animals off to be properly trained. This class will be of cost to the owner of the animal because it is their responsibility to take care and love the animal they adopted.

Put yourself in the animals shoes: Don't eat for three days, don’t drink water, stay outside in the freezing cold rain, put a muzzle around your mouth 24/7, then tell me what we should do to these people who think this is okay. According to the animal abuse laws in oregon, “The state's anti-cruelty laws: any non human mammal … animal abuse may be elevated to a felony offense if the act was committed directly in front of a minor child or if the perpetrator was previously convicted of domestic violence.” (www.animallaw.info/stature/or-cruelty-consoiledated) These punishments might be harsh, but it’s pretty simple: you treat your animal how they should be treated, and the punishment goes away.

These punishments may be a bit over the line, but that's how passionate I am about this topic. I want animal abuse to stop, and together we can end the mistreatment of animals. Humans don’t deserve this treatment, and neither do animals!