Dear Next President,

Animal abuse is a big issue in the U.S. The fine for animal abuse needs to increase, jail time needs to increase, people need to make sure they ALWAYS report abuse if they see or suspect it, puppy mills need to be shut down, and places like circuses, zoos, rodeos, etc. should be constantly inspected to make sure the animals are receiving proper treatment.

Animals are some of the most innocent beings on this earth and are the least worthy of bad treatment. If we increase awareness of animal abuse and increase the punishment, the number of abused animals should decrease.

According to the Humane Society of the US, the average number of abuse/cruelty cases reported in the media each year are about 1,920

• Dogs: 60%, 26% of which are pitbulls
  
• Cats: 18%
  
• Other animals: 22%
  

The 22% “other animals” catagory consists of tons of different species, such as horses, circus animals, zoo animals, etc. It’s easy to forget that statistics aren’t just numbers, they are real living creatures that have been abused.

• Also, according to DoSomething.org, more than 50% of fur in the US comes from China where cats and dogs are bled to death or skinned alive for their fur.
  

Not all fur from China is properly labeled, which means that you could be wearing the fur of a cat and not even realize it.

• At the bottom of the page is a pie chart about the types of animal abuse from an animal abuse statistics page.
  

ALL abuse is wrong. All types of abuse has extremely negative effects on the victim.We need to make an effort to end all types of abuse. animals for food, doesn’t mean it’s ok to treat them maliciously. It is common that a person who sees nothing wrong with abusing an animal, also sees nothing wrong with abusing other humans.

One thing that could be done to end animal abuse is to always report cruelty if it is seen or suspected. If you noticed that a neighbor always keeps their dog chained up to the porch in all kinds of weather and never feeds it or exercises it, you should consider it your duty as a citizen to report possible abuse/neglect. It’s never ok to abuse an animal therefore next president, the government needs to do whatever is necessary to make people understand that.

Sincerely,

Barbara

Grade 10

Mendota Heights, MN