Thursday 17 January 2013

Define Animal Abuse

Source(google.com.pk)
Define Animal Abuse Biography
“Acts of violence or neglect perpetrated against animals are considered animal cruelty,” according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA - see related informational paper on ASPCA).  It is important to distinguish between the different forms of animal cruelty.  While fundamentally different at the source, all forms result in the physical and/or emotional suffering of the animal victim.

One form of animal cruelty is overt, intentional abuse, which occurs when a person purposely causes physical harm, injury or the death of an animal (ASPCA).  Another form of animal cruelty is neglect.  Failing to provide an animal with the basic necessities of food, water, adequate shelter and appropriate veterinary care are all examples of neglect.  In stark contrast to intentional cruelty, the neglect of an animal by an individual is often (though not always) the result of a lack of education and awareness about proper animal care, and can be remedied through education and by requiring the owner to provide these basic life sustaining elements (ASPCA).

While both intentional abuse and neglect can happen at the hands of an individual, larger institutions or businesses that involve animals are also often perpetrators of animal cruelty.  For example, the violent training and culling methods used by organized, large scale dog fighters are an example of intentional cruelty and abuse.  Canned hunting preserves, of which there are over 4,000 locations in the United States, where exotic animals are penned, sometimes drugged and shot or speared by “hunters” is another form of outright animal abuse (Pacelle 2003).  Conversely, the conditions in which many animals are found during a bust of a mass breeding facility, or “puppy mill” is an example of gross animal neglect.

Historic Roots
To begin discussing the history of animal cruelty is to go back literally to ancient times.  Fighting dogs for sport, for example, has been traced back as far as the 12th Century, after the war that ensued when the Romans invaded Britain.  The British, though they lost the war, delighted in the tenacity and endurance of their dogs, and began exporting them for use in pit fights against larger animals like wild boar and bulls.  For centuries these fights occurred across Europe until the baiting of larger animals was prohibited in 1835.  At this point, dog-on-dog combat became the cheaper, legal alternative and the fighting dogs, as well as the taste for the brutal blood sport was exported to other countries including the United States (Villavicencio 2007).

Cockfighting (a fight between two game roosters) has its roots deep in American history and culture, with many of the founding fathers being fond of (and participating in) the blood sport.  It wasn’t until June of 2007 that cockfighting was made illegal in Louisiana, the last of the 50 states to ban the activity – though the ban did not take effect until August of 2008 (Wikipedia).  Though illegal throughout the US at this point, cockfighting still occurs with disturbing frequency across the country, particularly in the rural south and in areas with immigrant populations in whose home countries cockfighting may still be legal and part of the cultural norm.

Define Animal Abuse
 Define Animal Abuse
Define Animal Abuse
Define Animal Abuse
Define Animal Abuse
Define Animal Abuse
Define Animal Abuse
Define Animal Abuse
Define Animal Abuse

Define Animal Abuse
Define Animal Abuse

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