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Alyssa Acosta

P2 CRN15460

1 December 2017

Animal Rights

Animal rights are the ideas that animals have the right to live a free life without being

beaten, kicked, or be pitted against each other. Animals are used for experiments, to test

products, and treated unfairly. Every day animals are being neglected. Animals should have the

right to be treated fairly and should never be a part of experiments. Animals should have the

right to be free from services to humans for entertainment. Just because an animal cannot defend

its self does not mean the animal should be beaten for misbehaving, kicked for no reason, or

pitted against each other for money. This is not ethical and needs to be fixed.

Every day animals are mistreated by humans. Mistreating animals is also called animal

cruelty. Animal cruelty is the act of hurting an animal or not caring for the animal responsibly

(Paws.org). Animal cruelty is not only abuse but neglect and not providing for the animal. Even

though animal cruelty is against the law or illegal, people still mistreat animals. Let’s say you

have a dog and you never feed it or never give it water that would be an example of neglect. No

one knows why people beat animals because the animals do not mistreat humans. If someone is

going to mistreat an animal, do not adopt the animal. Some animals go through so much abuse

and no one ever knows about it. The animal could live its whole life with being neglected and we

are still doing nothing about it. According to Time Magazine, some examples of animals being

mistreated are poorly run dog kennels, animal testing facilities, and factory farms.
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As a matter of fact, to support these animals people that believe in animals rights go

undercover as workers to get evidence of the horrible conditions the animal goes through each

day. They have footage of what happens to these poor animals. Many people are dedicated to

work at farm factories so that they can show people how the farm animals are mistreated. One

video at a factory farm showed workers “slicing off tails, making holes in their ears, and grinding

the teeth of baby piglets without any pain relief; animals suffering from untreated injuries and

illnesses; and mother pigs crammed in tiny gestation crates” (Mercy for Animals). In the

Lilydale chicken supplier farms workers were throwing birds and ripping the legs off of chickens

while they were conscious. Meanwhile, people who products from these farms do not even know

the animal died cruelly. The Humane Society reports that “The most common victims of animals

abused are dogs, cats, horses, and livestock. About 70% of the animal abuse cases involve dogs,

20% involve cats, and 24% are other animals” (The Humane Society of the United States).

Furthermore, dogs are the animals that suffer the most abuse. In my opinion dogs and

cats are the most common victims of animal abuse because most people have these animals.

These animals are easy to handle. They are animals that can live in your house and most people

like these animals. Household pets are the animals that suffer the most neglect. Maybe these

animals suffer the most neglect because people have these pets in their houses. Since individuals

have them, it makes it easier for a person to hurt the animal. They think because they have the

animal in their home it is okay to injure the animal.

One type of animal cruelty is dog fighting. Dog fighting is when people pit dogs against

each other and force dogs to fight each other for entertainment and bets. People are drawn to dog

fighting because of all the money they can get for betting. Many are also drawn to dog fighting

so they can have bragging rights. These people want their dogs to be the best of the best. Most
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people do this because they are greedy for money. The dog owners do not even care about the

animal’s health at all. According to the ASPCA, dog fighting is a felony. The ASPCA says,

“Dog fighting is violent and can cause both animals to suffer injuries including puncture wounds,

lacerations, blood loss, crushing injuries, and broken bones” (ASPCA).

In addition, puppy mills are places where animal cruelty can take place. Puppy mills are

places where dog breeding occurs so that people can buy them. People buy these dogs because

they are pure bred meaning they are a certain type of dog breed. Puppy mills sell the animals to

pet shops. The individuals that run the puppy mills get a lot of money for selling pure bred

animals to pet shops. Pure bred dogs are in high demand. The dogs are all crowded together in

small cages in unsanitary buildings. Not to mention the dogs can sometimes get cut by the small

cages. When the female breeding dogs can no longer reproduce, they are killed cruelly. Dogs in

puppy mills get kidney disease, heart disease, or die because of the horrible conditions they live

in. The ASPCA estimates that there are about 10,000 puppy mills in the United States. So

anyone can imagine how many animals are being mistreated or worse die. Next time you go to a

pet shop ask the owner where they get the dogs.

Another type of animal cruelty are in slaughterhouses. 100,000 horses are slaughtered

each year for human consumption. Horses are not meant to be eaten, they are meant to be pets.

The horses that are taken to be slaughtered are crowded, have no food or water, or rest. Two

slaughterhouse facilities that are now closed slaughtered more than 104,000 horses. In

slaughterhouses, if pigs are too small or sick they are killed because they cannot be used as food.

The slaughterhouses do not even try to sell the small pig or treat the sick pig. The

slaughterhouses show no mercy for animals. According to Mercy for Animals, “Not a single

federal law protects animals during their lives on factory farms, and the law that protects cows
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and pigs at slaughterhouses does not extend to birds or rabbits” (Mercy for Animals). If the

government does not pass a law to ban horse slaughter, it will not end.

Circuses are one of the most common places where animal cruelty takes place. Circuses

and rodeo events use harsh training techniques to make the animals do what they want. Circus

animals are bred in captivity, and most are taken from their natural habitats. This also means that

the cute little baby elephant you seen in the circus was taken away from its family. A man that

works with Last Chance for Animals went undercover to see what happens to the animals in the

show. What the man found was that the animals were being extremely abused. The elephants

were being beaten with baseball bats, shocked with electric rods, and hit on the head or across

the face. The people of the circus hit the animal repeatedly to “teach” them to do the right thing.

The people of the circus are greedy and want money for what the animal does. The animals do

the circus routine because they know they will be beaten if they do not do it. The elephants are

suffering and being tortured. The Ringling Bros., circus employees chain elephants up for 23

hours a day. They even chain up baby elephants even though the baby elephant is supposed to be

with its mother. The baby elephant needs it mother but the circus employees do not even care.

They just care about they paycheck they get. The elephant has no fun and can barely walk around

because of the chain around its neck.

Animal experiments are another type of animal cruelty. “The top 10 testing countries in

the world are the United States, Japan, China, Australia, France, Canada, the UK, Germany,

Taiwan, and Brazil, in that order” (Cruelty Free International 2017). Notice how the US is the

first on that list, this just means we have to work hard to stop it from happening. The Humane

Society says, “It is estimated that 500,000 mice, guinea pigs, rats, and rabbits suffer and die from

cosmetics testing every year” (The Humane Society). These animals are exposed to the product
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and then killed off after to examine the damage. The people that do the experiments want to

know how the product affects the animal. They want to know if it causes damage to any of the

organs or if it is just plain bad for anything. Some animals are mated and then killed before they

give birth. DoSomething.org discovered that “Over 115 million animals are killed in laboratory

experiments worldwide for chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing every year.” Some

animals are used in military experiments. If anyone wants to stop, this do not buy fur or

cosmetics that test their products using animals.

The Animal Welfare Act helps with how animals are treated. According to the USDA,

“The Animal Welfare Act is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment

of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers. The Animal Welfare Act requires

that minimum standards of care and treatment be provided for certain animals bred for

commercial sale, used in research, transported commercially, or exhibited to the public”

(USDA.gov 2017). The Animal Welfare Act makes sure that animals that are sold by dealers and

animals in research get the minimum amount of care and treatment. The Animal Welfare act

makes sure the animals are taken care of but does not make sure the animals are not killed. It

makes sure they are properly cared for even though they should be taken care of more.

The United States Department of Agriculture says that “Facilities using regulated animals

for regulated purposes must provide their animals with adequate housing, sanitation, nutrition,

water, and veterinary care, and must protect their animals from extreme weather, and

temperature” (USDA 2017). Facilities cannot just forget that they need to take care of animals.

These animals are in a facility and must be protected even if they are being used for experiments.

People cannot just kill an animal because it “does not have a use anymore.”
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The USDA, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Animal

Care program administrators are in charge of enforcing the Animal Welfare Act. The USDA

inspectors conduct routine inspections of the facilities. They check places and make sure the

places are clean, the animals are being treated well, and they are being fed. The downside to this

act is that it only provides minimal protection and excludes some animals like rats, mice, and

birds. Obviously this is not helping much because some animals are being killed and mistreated

in facilities.

Is it a crime to abuse or neglect an animal? Yes it is, every state in the United States has a

law prohibiting cruelty to animals. Also in every state the consequences are different. So, there

are consequences to mistreating an animal. Many people are dedicated to bringing animal

abusers to justice. Animal abuse is never okay. The consequences are here to show people that an

animal should not be mistreated. Now people recognize that animal cruelty, neglect, and abuse

are a serious issue. To be charged with animal abuse or cruelty there needs to be proof. In some

places in the United States, animal cruelty is a felony. A felony is a crime involving violence and

is regarded as more serious than a misdemeanor. A felony is punishable by imprisonment for

more than a year or by death. No one wants to go to prison for a long time because you abused

an animal. It is not worth it and no one should abuse a poor, innocent animal. If you have a

felony on your record and you want to get a job it will show. Some work places will not hire

people with a felony. Imagine having a felony because you beat an animal and you could not get

a job. You do not want to ruin your life for beating and animal. If you do not want a felony then

do not beat animals.

Most people believe that animals should have rights like people do. Even though people

get in trouble for hurting animals, not all animals are protected. Some people do not agree
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because “they are just animals.” Just because we consider them animals doesn’t mean we can

cause them pain. People do not want animals to have rights because they say that animals are

our main source of food in this world. They believe animals are here to feed us. Animals like

dogs are a man’s best friend. Hurting a dog is like hurting your best friend. Animals are like us

they eat, drink water, and sleep just like us. Animals should not have to serve humans for any

reason. Humans cannot use them for entertainment or as experiments. It is just not ethical.

Humans cannot mistreat them because they are animals or because they don’t look like us.

Animals should have rights because they should not be tortured, confined, or slaughtered.

Everyone needs to stop this from happening.

One thing everyone can do for animals to have rights is have nonviolent protests and to

help stop animal abuse. The law needs to crack down on animal abuse, dog fighting, puppy mills,

and cosmetic testing on animals. We need to show people that animal abuse is a serious crime. It

is a felony so it is a really serious crime. If people want animals to have rights we need to fight

for it. Everyone needs to do whatever they can to make it happen. People can even donate to

animal right foundations. Join an animal rights club to help the animals that need it. If you have a

pet at home you know this law needs to be strict and needs to be pushed. We need to help the

cute puppies, kittens, cows, horses, bunnies, rats, pigs, chickens, elephants, and mice. We cannot

watch them suffer. If you see a person neglecting or abusing an animal do something about it,

call the police. Do not just let the issue go, stop the person or tell someone about it.
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Works Cited

“Animal Cruelty.” ASPCA, www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty.

Bligh, Cherry. “Animal Cruelty at Circuses.” Last Chance for Animals – Circuses,

www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/animals-in-entertainment/circuses.

“Cosmetics Tests That Use Animals.” The Humane Society of the United States, Humane

Society,www.humanesociety.org/issues/cosmetic_testing/tips/common_cosmetics_tests_

animals.html.

Cronin, Melissa. “6 Major Animal Issues Worth Fighting For This Year.” The Dodo, The Dodo,

2 Jan. 2015, www.thedodo.com/animal-issues-2015-how-to-help-910590335.html.

“Facts and Figures on Animal Testing.” Cruelty Free International,

www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/facts-and-figures-animal-testing

Lehnardt, Karin. “98 Important Facts about Animal Cruelty.” Interesting Facts, 20 Feb. 2017,

www.factretriever.com/animal-cruelty-facts.

Loria, Joe . “14 Facts That'll Turn You Into an Animal Rights Activist.” Mercy For Animals, 20

Mar. 2017, www.mercyforanimals.org/14-facts-thatll-turn-you-into-an-animal-rights.

“PAWS - People Helping Animals.” Animal Cruelty » PAWS, www.paws.org/kids/learn/animal-

cruelty/.

United States Department of Agriculture. “Animal Welfare Act.” USDA APHIS | Animal

Welfare Act, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, 29 Sept. 2017,

www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalwelfare/SA_AWA.
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