Animal Abuse: A Look Into the Horrors Humans Put Animals Through
Warning: The following article includes graphic images with visuals of blood, death and abuse of animals. If you are sensitive to these images, the writer encourages you not to continue scrolling.
It is possible that bringing this topic up with my editors was a mistake. I can no longer unsee the heinous horrors that humans inflict on animals. These inhumane acts motivated by human greed makes me ashamed to be a part of the same species that contribute most to the destruction of the Earth rather than preserving Mother Nature. Faunas make up around 1–2 million of the 8.7 million species on earth discovered by science, but only the human species has been blessed with the cognitive ability to create wonders around the world. Unfortunately, these blessings aren’t put to good use; instead, they’re used to abuse what’s left of our planet.
Animal abuse occurs all around us, and we may unknowingly contribute to it. The following is not an exhaustive list of animal abuse that occurs daily, but it does include the vast majority of animal abuse that transpires around the world. Please keep in mind that what follows is just the tip of the iceberg; the truth is far more horrifying and gruesome.
Neglect
Animal neglect is a broad term that includes improper confinement, the failure to provide essential needs of the animal, having too many animals to adequately care for, failure to provide critical medical care or leaving animals unattended in extreme weather. Often, these animals live and sleep in their excrement, endure days without food or water and are badly emaciated. Domesticated animals such as dogs and cats, as well as livestock, are frequently neglected. Livestock are the most neglected as they are deprived of proper care, medical treatment, a clean environment, and the nutrients they require, although they provide for us. Irresponsible owners fail to provide sufficient care for the animals they foster for whatever reason it may be. Animals under their care are frequently underweight, exhibit unprovoked aggression, and have untreated injuries, all of which are a result of neglect.
Improper confinement can be divided into two categories: leaving an animal alone in a hot vehicle (essentially leaving your pet in your vehicle without the air conditioner on) and failing to provide animals with a spacious and clean environment. To demonstrate the second point, livestock animals are frequently connected with this sort of maltreatment, in which they are crammed into small, enclosed places with other animals of the same species, sleeping and eating in their excrement.
Physical violence
Physical violence is a textbook example of abuse. It is the intentional infliction of bodily pain, suffering, or death for reasons other than discipline. Physical abuse, whether it occurs in humans or animals, is the most apparent form of abuse, leaving permanent scars and traumas on the body. Dogs are one of the most common animals to suffer from this kind of cruelty. According to studies, this type of violence is more widespread in domestic abuse families, where the abuser is more likely to lash out at their pets as well as the people in the house.
Instead of adopting positive reinforcement methods on animals, such as giving treats or attention, beatings often result in the animal’s welfare being compromised, as well as a reduced level of attentiveness toward the handler. Physical abuse, aggression, beatings, canning, shocking, or any other form of abuse causes the animal to suffer from emotional and mental trauma for the rest of its life, aside from being seriously harmed.
Animals held in captivity
Zoos are known for providing a safe home for animals that are supposed to be roaming free in the wild, but do we really know what goes on behind the scenes? Animals in captivity, such as those in zoos, parks, and aquariums, suffer from boredom, stress, and confinement; and, while they may be imprinted on humans because they rely on humans for care, they lose their true identity as free members of nature when they are surrounded by their own species. Carnivores such as polar bears, tigers, cheetahs, lions, bears, snakes, alligators, and others are unfit for zoo life since they are dangerous by nature and cannot be domesticated according to a new study.
Not only do they live in tight quarters but animals who perform at aquariums such as Sea World are taken from their mothers’ care far earlier than is necessary. According to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), 75% of the animals in these aquariums have been harmed. Aside from that, circus animals spend the majority of their lives in cramped boxcars with horrible living situations, caged for 96% of their lives. More data and facts concerning animals in captivity can be found here.
Puppy mills
This should be made illegal if it isn’t already. Puppy mills, often known as puppy farms, are commercial dog breeding facilities that breed dogs quickly and in terrible conditions. Puppy mills are a well-kept secret in the pet-trade sector, where puppies are mass-produced for profit while the needs of the puppies and their moms are ignored. They furnish pet retailers with purebred dog breeds with little regard for the millions of other canines who will die in animal shelters.
Female dogs are bred times over until they are no longer able to reproduce, and the puppy-mill kennels are composed of anything from modest wooden or wire mesh cages to tractor-trailer cabs or just chains to trees, where both mother and puppies spend every day outdoors in their waste and excrement under poor weather conditions. These mothers and their litters are usually malnourished and receive no medical attention. Dogs produced in these conditions are more likely to have major health issues such as hip dysplasia and a weaker immune system.
Animal fighting
This barbaric practice normally involves two or more animals that are pitted against each other for the enjoyment of bettors and onlookers. The most prevalent types of animal fights that have recently gained popularity are dogfighting and cockfighting. The fight goes on until one of the competitors dies or is no longer able to fight.
Bait animals such as rats and wild hogs are used in another type of animal fighting. A dog is timed in this fight to see how quickly it can tame a feral hog with its tusks removed or kill a group of rats in a pit. The last type of fight — hopefully, until another human comes up with a new creative way to pit animals against each other for their wicked purposes — includes a person and an animal. Bullfighting is the most well-known example, in which the human’s purpose is to subdue, immobilise, or even kill the bull with a sword or other similar weapon. Many countries have made animal fighting illegal, though the laws vary depending on the type of fight.
Factory farming
Factory farming is defined as the conditions in which animals are produced in large numbers year-round for the meat business. Major food firms control and run the supply chain from the birth of these livestock animals on the farm until it reaches shelves, freezers, and our home refrigerators. They have complete control over the rate of production and the procedures used in broad swathes of the poultry, beef, pork, and other animal products markets.
Farmers at the bottom of the chain breed these animals in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which are buildings or pens where the animals are bred to develop quickly in small, restricted spaces and given monocrop meals. The animals are then slaughtered and processed for sale in supermarkets as ready-to-eat food. Factory farming is something to criticised of food firms as they have historically prioritised maintaining their control and profits over their communities, including harming individual farmers and ranchers, farmworkers, local economies, and public health.
Animals are commodities for these large food corporations, rather than living beings with feelings of pain and joy. These unfortunate livestock animals are quite often victims of power-hunger corporations, who debeak chickens to prevent injuries, dock cows’ and pigs’ tails, confine these animals in cramped quarters, and expose not only the animals but also farmworkers to unhealthy levels of ammonia because of the gas accumulated from the animals’ faeces and urine.
Seal clubbing
This topic, in particular, made me sick to my stomach: seal clubbing, one of Canada’s most popular hunts. This terrible and horrifying practice began in the 1500s and very little is known about it to the rest of the world. Sealers — a term proudly used to describe these crimedoers— use hakapiks and guns to kill seals in the most heinous manner possible. Although seal clubbing is popular in Canada, it is also permitted in nine other countries: the United States, Namibia, Denmark, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Finland, and Sweden.
One would think that their deaths were not in vain for such heinous methods of killing these animals, but seals are primarily slaughtered for their fur, which is used to make clothing and other products. Seal oil (for both industrial and human consumption) has a small market, and seal penises have been marketed in Asian countries as an aphrodisiac. Because there is absolutely no market for seal meat, carcasses are frequently allowed to rot on the ice. Senior Canadian government officials describe the seal massacre as “primarily a fur hunt”. So really, the seals’ deaths are just to satisfy human needs.
Trophy hunting
Another heinous and inhumane practice that has spread across multiple continents is trophy hunting and it has no other purpose but to pleasure of the hunter. Animals suffer at the hands of humans who are selfish, ill, and disgusting. As the name suggests, trophy hunting is the act of killing creatures such as rhinos, elephants, lions, pumas, and bears for major games that reward such brutal acts by awarding the winner the head or skin of the animal. What’s more perplexing is that this behaviour is both legal and lucrative.
Animal experimentation
Aristotle was one of the first scientists to experiment with animals, according to records dating back to his time. In the 12th century, Ibn Zuhr, an Arab physician, was the first to use animal models in experimental surgical techniques. The custom continues to this day to meet even the most trivial human needs.
Animals are used to evaluate the safety and usability of a variety of products, including medicine for drug development by pharmaceutical companies and cosmetic testing for beauty products, which frequently results in these animals becoming blind or suffering from liver failure. Before entering clinical trials, some products must first be tested on animals. Mice, rats, birds, fish, cats, dogs, rabbits, nonhuman primates, and farmed animals are among the victims that are sacrificed just for humans to look pretty.
Poaching
Poaching is a type of animal abuse that involves illegal wildlife trade and slaughter. Wildlife crime is a multibillion-dollar industry fueled by enormous profit margins for rare species and operated by dangerous international networks. The vulnerable are being pushed closer to extinction, and nature is unable to regenerate itself in order to keep up with human avarice. Demand for rhino horn, elephant ivory, tiger goods, and leather continues to rise, particularly in Asian countries where consumers are willing to pay high amounts, resulting in widespread poaching in South Africa. The price of rhino horns has risen to equal gold after a myth in Vietnam about rhino horns being able to cure cancer. A quick look at the statistics will easily reveal the great extent of poaching: for example, between 2007 and 2013, rhino poaching has increased in South Africa by as much as 7,700% — a number too large to fully grasp, yet a harsh reflection of animal cruelty.
That’s It, I’m Done.
When I started on this task, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Animal abuse, in my mind, was just neglect, where owners forget to feed their dogs once or twice a week. Never in a million years did I envisage having to learn about all of humanity’s inhumane and horrible acts. Why is it that when a human kills another person, society frowns on it but not when it is done to an animal? Even if it’s horrifying and gruesome, seeing chickens murdered in marketplaces to feed our bellies is still understandable. But that’s the end of it. In a matter of seconds, the chicken is pain-free. So, what’s the point of keeping animals in captivity, pitting them against one another for amusement, or using them as a way to vent our frustrations? Humans have never been sicker, and we will only get sicker in the future. As I stated from the start, I am deeply disgusted to be a part of a race that continues to abuse Mother Nature rather than being grateful for all that she provides.
[Written by: Balvin Dhaliwal. Edited by: Miza Alisya.]
