Running Head: CAUSES OF ANIMAL CRUELTY IN BD
ENG 105 Research Paper
Causes of Animal Cruelty in Bangladesh:
According to NSU students
Khondker Shafia Farzana
ID: 1912612630
North South University
Causes of Animal Cruelty in BD 2
Contents
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
Introduction and Background…………………………………………………………….. 4
Research Questions……………………………………………………………………………..6
Hypothesis…………………………………………………………………………………………..8
Research Methodology………………………………………………………………………..9
Data Presentation and Analysis…………………………………………………………..11
Summary of Research Findings……………………………………………………………16
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………….18
Work Cited………………………………………………………………………………………….19
Causes of Animal Cruelty in BD 3
Abstract
Animal cruelty never makes it to the headline or is never in the spotlight however
it is the most heinous act committed by mankind. Every now and then we stumble
across such act. The main reason is because the offender think it is a crime easy to get
away from. I hypothesized that animals are abused in the name of development, luxury,
entertainment, experiment, cultural rituals, limited knowledge, love and most importantly
dominance over them by mankind. My hypothesis also included that love for animals is
most likely conditional. Keeping that in mind, I found out some facts about the law
enforcements, questionable cultural rituals and last but not the least heath care issues
by which my hypothesis is confirmed correct. However, some indicated that animal
abuse and health issues are now considered as serious issues and been taken care of.
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Introduction and Background
Animal abuse is basically the infliction of sufferings caused by the activities of
mankind be it their negligence or immoral acts toward them. The animals are used as
objects in numerous human experiments, entertainment, luxury, cultural rituals and they
don’t even justify these acts as cruel or inhuman enough. Animal abuse has been
increasing drastically worldwide. In Bangladesh, the rate of cruelty to animal has
crossed the bar and this might lead us to the next mass extinction as of numerous
animal species have already been extinct and many of the them are about to. However,
2.9% of our GDP depends on the livestock or animals, we human yet to realize the
importance of their existence. (“livestock”, n.d). All we have known is, how to use them
out of dominance in order to achieve our ultimate goal which is making profit.
The first arrest in an animal case of Bangladesh was reported in 2015. (Farhin,
2017). Which implies that It took our country forty-four years to witness the first animal
cruelty case with suggests how ignorant the law enforcement was of animal cruelty.
First ever pet animal hospital of Bangladesh has been started in Dhaka
Purbachal on October 28th,2018. (Hussain, 2018). This implies that we have recently
started to pay attention to the animal healthcare sector that too under surveillance which
means we are yet to ensure the animal health rights. The unfortunate thing is that so
far, our government didn’t count animal’s health care issue seriously which is why we
didn’t feel the necessity to build a pet animal hospital. However, there are veterinarians
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who have been providing pet animal health care service privately at double the usual
charge which not every person can afford.
Pre medical or pharmaceutical experiments on animal is also cruel enough to
pay attention to. However, in our laboratories we apply chemical solutions on animals
like rats, monkeys etc. to check whether the experiments are useful. We continue to do
this until all the experiments are working correctly. But on the process, we sacrifice
several lives of animals. Even in the name of cultural rituals, we sacrifice animals for no
valid reasons. There is an annual ritual of slaughtering whales in Denmark which is
extremely brutal and has no valid reason behind this. “The sea turns bloody red as an
annual ritual in Denmark’s Faroe Islands sees locals kill hundreds of whales. On 29
May, 145 pilot whales and seven white-sided dolphins were killed in Torshavn bay and
images of the slaughter triggered outrage on social media. But, according to a Metro UK
report, this was not a one-off incident as every summer around 800 pilot whales are
massacred in bays across the remote islands as inhabitants prepare for the harsh
winter months ahead.” (“Annual Rituals”, n.d). Cultural rituals like these are heinous and
mostly responsible for the animal extinction.
Humans haven’t even hesitated to use the animals as a source of entertainment
in the name of dominance. For example, circus and zoo. “Many of the animals at the
Bangladesh National Zoo are passing days with immense suffering. With poor medical
care, scarce food and congested cages, the captive animals look so miserable and
weak that seeing them is not exactly fun for all the visitors.” (Chandan, 2015). Basically,
zoo animals are just left to die.
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Research Questions
I have always loved animals and have pets. Having a soft corner for animals, I
have always wondered whether the other people like animals or not. The topic of animal
love has always draw my attention and knowing the fact that the other person likes
animal too, drags me to talk about the animal rights and abuses.
I have always wanted to understand the psychology or the factors based on
which people make decisions choose their pets. If it is actual love or just luxury, if it is
luxury, what could be fascinating to them regarding pets? If there are other redundant
factors like appearance because sure it has nothing to do with care.
Animal reproductive health has always been an interesting subject for me. What
people think about it and the taboos are something that I have always tried to know.
Because cruelty to animal is somewhat linked to the reproductive health. As we have a
bad habit of taking animals for granted, I have always thought maybe the reproductive
health of animal is a field people don’t pay much of attention to. I have always tried to
find if the people have enough knowledge about the animal health issues. And as per
what they make decisions for securing animal health rights.
There have been always a question about the medical services for animal in our
country. If it is available or handy enough, if the services are expensive or cheap. Also
how good the services are. These are really important because the vaccinations are the
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rights of animals. I have always tried to find the connection between animal health care
services and the cruelty towards them.
The processed gene programs of animals or the application of growth hormone
in order to make more profit has never got the headline or the spotlight, however, it has
been a big question for me what people thinks about it. Whether they consider this as
an abuse or not and precisely when they consider an act as animal abuse.
My research has also explored if the animal love has anything to do with our
gender. And the law enforcement in order to secure the animal rights. If people consider
it strong enough or even if they about anything like that.
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Hypothesis
I think the causes of animal abuse depends on quite a number of factors. Not
necessarily people’s every activity that inflicts sufferings for animals is intentional, they
can be unintentional too. Although, most of the cruelty is the ultimate result of human
dominance over animals in the name of love, entertainment, experiment or welfare of
mankind, luxury because it is a crime easy to get away from. Not just that, people
barely consider the activities abusive.
I expect my research findings to be extremely crest falling or heart wrenching. I
have always believed that lack of compassion, knowledge and extreme greed of profit,
lead people to cause harm to animals. Even there is an interconnection between human
gender and the cruelty to animals. Also outlooks or condition of an animal is a major
factor of animal abuse.
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Research Methodology
A research plan was conducted by me to prove the above mentioned
hypotheses. It consisted of online surveys, discussions and looking up reference
materials like surveys which were conducted by other people, newspaper, articles,
vlogs, journals, books and so on.
For online surveys, I set out the questions which will help me finding the reasons
behind animal abuse. I carried out the surveys through online. As the research is based
on what the students of North South University think, I made sure all the surveys are
done by them. Students of all department and semesters have taken part.
For the online discussion, I have asked questions regarding animal health rights
and law enforcement to different veterinarians and the people who works for the welfare
of the animal through online. For this one I didn’t feel the necessity of preparing any
specific questions however, I asked for what they think and have to say regarding this
topic. Most of the veterinarians stated that 90% of the animal abuse is because of the
lack of compassion and knowledge. They also mentioned that people are not regular
about the health checkups of animals and this negligence is the main cause of cruelty to
animal. The workers of welfare society stated that not knowing the animal reproductive
health facts lead them to abandon the animals on the streets which is the major act of
cruelty. And complete negligence for those animals who are in need or to be specific,
handicapped is another big reason of animal abuse.
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Lastly, I looked up the reference materials on the field to shed light on the current
situations of animal health rights and regulations as well as the past history of cruelty
act incidents and how people justified those in order to find whether the situation has
improved and the reasons behind such acts.
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Data Presentation and Analysis
The survey has provided me with a satisfactory information, enough to prove my
hypothesis but definitely alarming when it comes to stopping animal cruelty. The survey
was conducted in a pool of 34 people, 32.4% of it being female while the rest are male
students. I wanted to know if people had a liking to animals. Around 61.8% of the
respondents have said that they strongly adore animals. While 11 respondents have
stated it to be at an average rate and 5.9% of the respondents have said that they do
not prefer the company of an animal.
In this survey, I wanted to figure out how many respondents were interested to
adopt or take a pet who are abandoned or handicapped. As illustrated in figure 01, of
the 34 total respondents, 16 were interested in adopting the kind of pet mentioned
above.
Figure No: 1
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Only 2 persons were interested in adopting a stray cat or a stray dog or any
handicapped animal. A total of 5 person were interested in adopting any of the two and
the rest 9 respondents were interested to take up only one. While these people
represent a whopping 47.06% of the entire survey population, the real scenario isn’t that
optimist. As only a mere 5.88% is interested to adopt a distressed, abandoned animal
without any preference. This justifies that people’s love for animals is just a conditional
one rather than the other.
I also wanted to know if our students were knowledgeable enough about the
medical services available in our country. In figure 02, we can see that 88.2% of the
respondents think that the medical services were not available enough which portrays
the grim reality. But when asked about whether or not they had any knowledge about
the existing ones, only 4 of the respondents had concrete information about their
whereabouts.
Figure No: 2
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In figure 03, we can see that a 64.7% of the respondents think that medicals and
vaccinations are expensive, at level 3 on a scale of 5 which represents the average
expensive section. The rest 12 person of the 34 respondents think that the expenses
are slightly above average at level 4 on a scale of 5. This clearly suggests that people
perceive the expenses to be higher and is reluctant to go through the entire process of
vaccination and accrue medical expenses.
Figure No: 3
I also wanted to know what our students think of the current animal cruelty law that
exists. The survey provided us with some interesting data.
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Figure No: 4
Around 20.6% of the respondents believe that there is no animal cruelty law that
exists in our country. This represents a large number of the survey people who are
ignorant of any existing law of animal cruelty that exists in our country. 61.8% of the
population however, has the right idea about how weak the existing laws are. But this
number should have been somewhere near 90 percent. The rest 17.6% think that the
laws are strong but unimplementable which is another misinterpretation from the student’s
point of view as the laws are not only unimplementable but also not strong at all. There
has been no response to the opinion, “strong but implementable” which in hindsight is the
only bright side from the collected information.
The respondents were also asked questions like “Which one do you think is better
for animal reproductive health? Apart from one response most were in favor of either
keeping the off springs or neutralization to prevent unwanted reproduction. Most of them
had stated humane or logical reasons. The respondents were also asked what they would
Causes of Animal Cruelty in BD 15
consider to be animal cruelty. There was one response that stood out: “whenever it is
against them”. Most of the respondents have focused on the physical abuse. But there
was one response of someone not knowing what animal cruelty is.
Causes of Animal Cruelty in BD 16
Summary of Research Findings
It can be concluded that most people are affectionate about animals but some
don’t possess the knowledge of what is considered to be animal cruelty. People’s love
for animal are not unconditional and is mostly based on their preferred pet. They would
rather not adopt any stray or handicapped animal. And even when they are picking any
stray animals, they’d rather choose a pet who isn’t handicapped. Mostly because their
choice is based on appearance and other biased criterions.
It can also be said that the students of North South University know that there
aren’t enough healthcare facilities available for animals but at the same time are very
ignorant about the existing ones. This can also be said that people respond with a
generic answer but are not prepared to go beyond that and try to know more about the
healthcare facilities available for animals.
One of the most interesting findings is that most people view the medications and
vaccines to be expensive or slightly over expensive. The regulation of such price needs
to be considered. The students have a hard time to pay for the high expenses and may
be reluctant to consider adapting a pet because of this monetary issue.
The survey also gave me an idea about how knowledgeable the people are when
it comes to laws regarding animal cruelty. Most people have no idea that they are
supposed to face any repercussions for their crime. Some of them have misleading
information about the law as they think that they are strong but are not being
implemented. While the laws are in fact weak but due to the law enforcements
Causes of Animal Cruelty in BD 17
unwillingness to stay vigilante in this matter have always been on the high, people tend
to get away without punishment.
Thus, it can be safe to conclude that people’s willful ignorance when it comes to
animal cruelty and the lack of government and law enforcement intervention has led to
the rise of animal cruelty in recent years.
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Conclusion
Overall I have come to a conclusion that male students are more aware of animal
rights compared to female students. Love for anyone should be unconditional however,
the research has made clear that love for animal is of conditions more like show off.
Lack of medical services according to NSU students is still a big issue. Unavailability of
medical services is one of the main causes of animal abuse. Also the medical expenses
should be taken care of and keep it under the line so that students can afford the animal
healthcare expenses. I have also come to an understanding that law enforcements
regarding animal rights are weak and lack of implementation has made it even weaker
as a result people don’t even care about the consequences that might come.
As for suggestions or recommendations, I hoped the research could have been
done more thoroughly. Lack of respondents and the demographic was low severely. I
think it would be interesting how the people outside NSU and most importantly other
than students think about the respective topic.
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Works Cited
“Annual Ritual Sees”. (2019, June 3). News24. Retrieved from
https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/annual-ritual-sees-hundreds-of-whalesslaughtered-in-denmark-pictures-spark-outrage-2170285.html
Chandan, M.S.K. (2019, July 10). Zoo that is not. The Daily Star. Retrieved from
https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/spotlight/news/the-zoo-not-1769368
Farhin, N. (2017, October 31). Bangladesh struggles with cruelty towards animals.
Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved from
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/dhaka/2017/10/31/can-kill-animal-human
Hussain, A. (2018, October 28). Bangladesh’s first ever pet animal hospital opens in
Dhaka. Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved from
https://www.dhakatribune.com/health/2018/10/28/bangladesh-s-first-ever-petanimal-hospital-opens-in-dhaka
“Livestock”. (n.d). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Retrieved from
http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Livestock