Animal Cruelty

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Animal Cruelty
It’s the thing that will love you unconditionally, you play with it, and you will love it back. It is also one of the many things that will make you cry when it is no longer there. “…In 2012, 62 percent of American households included at least one pet.” (The Humane Society). Most people who own any sort of animal feel obligated to care for it. However, there are some animal owners who abuse and mistreat their pets. Although many feel that animal cruelty laws and punishments are too strict, others believe that they are not strict enough.
Animals are considered property when it comes to United States laws. Property means something that is owned by a person. The laws put in place to protect your property “are in fact not even intended to protect animals and their interests, but to serve human interests.” (Tannenbaum 2) Basically, this means that the only reason that the laws were created was to please the people who made them. They were not made to protect the animals. These laws that were instated cover many subjects but most obvious are: forced reproduction (mills); any form of cruelty (mostly intentional harm); and fighting.
Scattered across the United States there are animal owners breeding designer animals indiscriminately: animals in tiny, wired cages. Imagine being confined to an area that is so small that you cannot stretch or walk erect. You would be lying in your own fecal matter day in and day out. In Ohio it is prohibited to treat animals in such ways because it is considered inhumane. Why is this inhumane, because there is no compassion, there is only pain, suffering, and misery. Each count of animal cruelty has its own fine and imprisonment. The Animal Legal Defense Fund states that the ...

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... is it truly your fault that you want to survive? No, it is the person who starved and beat you who should be punished for it. The law protects humans who fight back: this is called self-defense.
Are the animal Cruelty laws too strict? They are not in fact, strict enough. If the animal cruelty laws were strict enough, there would not be repeat felons. Also, why should someone be punished less for hurting something that loves them unconditionally? There is no justification for cruelly treating animals. As a result, there should be laws that are just as cruel in place to deter such a thing as cruelty to animals from happening. If there was no laws wouldn’t we be no better than the animals that are deemed dangerous?

Works Cited

Marquette Law Review. Spring2010, Vol. 93 Issue 3, p1021-1171. 51p.
Social Research. Fall95, Vol. 62 Issue 3, p539-607. 69p. 1 Diagram.

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