Animal cruelty issues: How do you feel?
I was doing my daily news reading yesterday when I came across this article. It’s about two german shepherds that were locked in a garage in Vancouver, left to starve to death. One dog was already dead when police found them, the other resorted to eating elastic bands off the floor. The one that was still alive weighed only 23 pounds. A full-grown german shepherd should weigh approximately 75 pounds.
It pretty much broke my heart. I HATE hearing about people being cruel to animals, it’s so sad. Do you guy’s remember last year when those kids in Camrose, Alberta put the cat in the microwave?
Well, I was DISGUSTED with that at the time, but now that I have my own little kitty it upsets me even more. Omg, I don’t even like thinking about it, it makes me SO angry and upset.
I decided I would do some quick research on animal cruelty in Canada and the kinds of punishment there is for it, here’s what I found:
In Canada right now, animal abusers get a maximum of 6 months in jail, $2,000 in fines and are not allowed to own animals for up to two years. The kids who microwaved the cat in Alberta were banned from owning pets for two years and got some community service, that’s it.
“They put the family cat in the microwave and ran the oven for 10 minutes while the animal screamed in pain.”
This is a direct quote out of that article and it brought tears to my eyes. I’m really heated up right now but I swear to god I would f-ing kill someone if they did that to my cat. Those 13 and 15 year old boys KNEW what they were doing. How could someone listen to an animal be tortured like that and find it amusing?
Speaking of kids torturing animals, in Kamloops, a man stabbed his neighbours eight month old puppy in December 2007, he was just charged last fall and received house arrest. He stabbed the PUPPY several times with a hunting knife.
Notice a pattern? All of these “children” received nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Community hours, house arrest, not allowed to have a pet for two measly years. News flash: they are not CHILDREN and they are more than old enough to know what they are doing.
It disgusts me. If I had a child who did something like that I swear I’d disown him/her.
Why aren’t animal’s lives valued as much as humans are?
OK, I realize that’s a silly question, obviously, we cannot give someone a life sentence for killing an animal. However, if it’s done in an inhumane way, like umm, putting them in the microwave, or dragging them behind a vehicle then the penalty should be harsher. Way harsher. Five years, minimum.
I know there is a fine line to be drawn here. I grew up on a farm; I know that the old-school way of putting an animal down is to shoot it. Just recently, my grandfather had to shoot my childhood dog because she had a huge tumour in her stomach, she was really old.
But shooting an animal to end it’s suffering is NOT the same as TORTURING one. Not even close.
Recently Ontario established new laws for animal cruelty and I think the rest of Canada needs to do the same. There laws aren’t as tough as I think they should be, but they are much better than the old ones. The new laws in Ontario establish a standard of care for animals, and jail terms of up to two years (I think it should be a MINIMUM of two years if the crime is inhumane) and fines of up to $60,000.
It’s a step at least.
Do you know what animal cruelty laws are like where you live? What do you think about these issues?
I don’t know the penalty for animal cruelty in Missouri/St. Louis. I guess I should check it out.
I can’t stand it when I hear about puppy mills, poor living conditions and etc. Why even get a dog if you can’t afford to take care of it? Why make it suffer along with you? Dogs, cats, rabbits, etc are for LOVING people. They have done nothing to deserve such treatment.
I also feel that dogs such as pitbulls and etc that have a bad reputation are that way because of how they are raised. (I used to have some very drunken/abusive neighbors on one of my streets and they treated their dog in a not nice way. I had no proof of torture or beating, but the environment was a rough one so as far as I’m concerned the dog was learning survival techniques. Not to mention people should TRAIN their animals and treat them with kindness.)
I can’t go to rescue shelters because I want to keep them all.
If I see a dog running on the side of the road I’ll stop to see if I can find it’s tag or do something to help it, but NOT calling animal control because they will put it down.
I’m a huge animal person. This article nearly made me cry.
And these children? Need parents who do actual parenting and not let them run around killing animals. I would be mortified if a kid I had killed an animal.
(end of my rant)
So sad – kids can be so cruel to animals. It’s too bad they are not properly punished.
That said – in the US, I almost feel like animal abuse is taken more serious that child abuse. The fines seem to be steeper, and the media is appalled when we hear of animal cruelty. But child abuse just doesn’t seem to get the attention it deserves… But that is just my personal opinion…
I just can’t fathom what kind of person would treat an animal the way they did in the scenarios you described. It’s just incredibly sick.
I agree, treating animals very abusively is sickening. Especially since animals are so trusting, like babies. Hurting an animal just seems like a huge violation of trust and love- and a seriously abused animal will usually never be the same again.
That said, I don’t think you put a 15-year-old in jail for years over hurting an animal. Their crimes are digusting, definitely, but I’m sorry a 15-year old is NOT an adult. Their brains aren’t even close to being fully developed and they are apt to having very bad judgment because of it. Furthermore, their actions are usually a combination of horrible parenting, which at their age can still be reversed, and often anger or mental issues, which need treatment. Jail will only make that worse- most people who go to jail at a very young age end up committing more serious crimes later on, because that’s the kind of behavior you learn in jail. There are better, more instructive ways to punish a minor.
Adult offenders definitely should see some jail time for torturing an animal, though. They’re old enough and experienced enough to know better. And I really think they should differentiate between animal “abuse” and “torture” by law. Abuse (hitting an animal or generally mistreating it) is bad enough, but these crimes are more like torture and deserve MUCH harsher punishment.
~Amanda
Around here, I keep hearing about animal neglect cases where hundreds of dogs and cats are discovered in one house. A couple weeks ago, a man was charged with 100 counts of animal neglect when 131 dogs were discovered on his property. 131! Since the man signed an agreement with the humane society, he will be released and will get to keep 20 dogs. Why does one man need 20 dogs? I’m sure he will still pay a hefty fine, but hearing about these stories also get me upset. I think the real issue is animal population.
This was an excellent post! I agree animal cruelty laws should be much stricter. After taking an animal ethics class this term, I have learned this subject is much more complicated than it looks.
I can’t imagine people wanting to hurt animals. It boggles my mind that anyone would do it!
I’m not sure of the punishment for animal cruelty in Iowa, I hope it’s severe.
All of these stories are disgusting. Only a bad person can hurt an innocent animal for their own enjoyment. I just don’t understand it. Sick.
Seriously this made me cry. What kind of people would do that? DONT adopt pets if you dont intend to love them :’(
I know, it’s absolutely awful. In class, we ended up talking about that in class and I was shocked at how little punishment there was. Something obviously needs to change.
Also, I’m sure there are studies that show that these “kids” probably end up doing some not so great things when they get older, whether it has to do with animals or not.
I just recently received an email regarding animal cruelty in foreign contries, can’t remember which one exactly. But, there was a video clip of the guy picking up an animal by the back legs and smashing its head on the ground, not totally killing it, then throughing it to the side and laughing as it twitched!! I cried out loud! Who would do this? It also spoke of cutting the achilles tendon so they couldn’t move and punishing them for nothing. Amber when i find this email I will forward it to you! I will never EVER own a Fur item.
And those kids who do things to animals, makes you wonder where were the parents??
Thanks again for the good blog Amber!!
Re: your comment on my post (I feel a bit bad talking about it on a post about animal cruelty…:( )
I wouldn’t be able to afford spinning either, but I found an old (expired) card, and since I know the people at the gym, I get to use it anyways
About level 1 – yes, it KILLS my shoulders…the first part is the toughest (push-ups…). I think the following ones are harder for me though because I still carry a bit of extra weight, so all of these calisthenics are super tough…It IS getting easier though, as I lose the weight
I guess I’ll have to try the 3rd level…lol!
The cupcakes got eaten a liiiiil too fast!
Sadly, I have no clue what our laws are here:( Which is terrible b/c I love animals w/ all my heart-I honestly would probably be a full-out vegetarian if I could live w/ the lifestyle.
i feel naseaus reading this.
f*ck animal cruelty.