Colin M. Maryland

Animal Abuse

There is a lot of animal abuse and neglect and a frightening correlation between animal and human violence. I suggest that people who abuse animals have some sort of intervention or psychological evaluation to at least try to lessen the violence.

Dear Next President of the United States of America,

Animal abuse and mistreatment of animals is a huge issue in the United States of America. Many domestic and nondomestic animals are abused every day. But one fact from the Human Society about animal abuse proves interesting: people who abuse animals are more likely to attack or be violent toward humans. I think that people who hurt or abuse animals should be psychologically examined so that they don’t hurt humans as well as more animals.

Also according to the Humane Society facts, dogs are most commonly abused animals making up 70.1% of animals abused. The causes of this abuse or misuse vary. Some people do it because they have been mistreated from some way, others may do it for “fun” (as in a sadistic nature.) The effects are devastating for both people and animals. Most animals are injured as a result of humans attacking them or because of a sport event (dogfighting and cockfighting.) Events such as dogfighting are also not only bad because of the suffering of the animals but also because of the effect it has on people who watch the events. Such exposure to insensitivity toward animals may cause younger viewers to be insensitive toward animals themselves because they’ve seen that a lot and who knows maybe they won’t differentiate between humans and animals.

There are many perspectives concerning the situation of animal abuse. Some have said that nothing has changed between now and the time of the Romans, and dogfighting could be compared to animal fighting in the Coliseum. Some people have said rodeo fighting is torture because the animals such as the cows and horses get injured and the ones that don’t are tired and immediately have to get ready for the next one. I understand these perspectives but I don’t think it is ever justified.

Next president, please address the issue of animal abuse. Animal abuse is wrong and the fact that studies and research have strongly linked it to human violence makes it a greater threat to everyone. Possible treatment and intervention for people who may have frighteningly violent tendencies may stop human or animal abuse.