On August 25, 2008, my owner Kwang Lee was arrested for beating my brother and me.
Kwang now faces 2 years in jail and a $4,000 fine. Now my brother and I are waiting in the New
York head quarters of the ASPCA, waiting to be adopted. This is an example of how serious
animal cruelty is taken in the United States. The ASPCA was created on April 10th, 1866 by a
local New Yorker, Henry Bergh. ASPCA stands for American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals. We believe that our charity is very important because animals can’t speak,
nor defend themselves, so today we are their voices.
Lee is just one of the thousands of people that abuse their pets in the United States alone.
Abusing pets is the reason why the ASPCA is here. They are trying to stop animal abuse in any
form there is. The ASPCA is fighting against the abuse in beating, neglecting, or in painful
scientific studies. The ASPCA is trying to make sure that all animals have good, loving families
that will take care of them and treat them like part of the family. Every year, 5 million to 7
million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year, and approximately 3
million to 4 million are euthanized. The ASPCA is trying to get the number of euthanized
animals to go down because those animals are either too sick, too aggressive, or they have just
been at a shelter for too long. These are all the reasons for animals being euthanized. It is
important to adopt animals from the shelter because five out of ten dogs in shelters and seven out
of ten cats in shelters are destroyed simply because there is no one to adopt them. Adopting
animals from a breeder doesn't always mean that the dog will be perfect. It's important to train
any kind of dog, purebred or not. So the ASPCA highly suggests adopting from a shelter.
Although, the average cost of basic food, supplies, medical care and training for a dog or cat is
$700 to $875 annually. So the ASPCA needs your donations so that every animal can get a
second shot at life.
One of the main causes of animal cruelty is animal testing. This involves testing things
on them from cosmetics to carcinogens and the toxicity of anti-per spirants. They simply don’t
think it’s safe to test these items on humans and since animals don’t have any say in things, they
resolve to them. Many of the animals suffer from physical and mental pain. Not much is done in
favor of the animals because the experiments are essential to human health. And since many of
the medical breakthroughs of the past century resulted from research using laboratory animals, it
gives more of a reason in favor for testing on animals. People’s need for fur products, dissection
in schools, and other various non-medical goods increases the likelihood of animal cruelty to
continue.
There are many needed measures to stop animal cruelty. Many people do not think
animals have rights like we do. They think that animals will just go along with what their masters
tell them to do. If there are animals that are being tested on, they should be treated with care. The
ASPCA are not against animals being tested. If no other alternative is available then animals
should be used. However, scientists should eliminate unnecessary painful experiments that will
scar the animals being tested. So what exactly are the steps that you can do to help eliminate
animal abuse? First, be aware and learn to recognize animal cruelty. It’s not that hard to realize
when someone is being abused. Know who to call to report animal cruelty. You could probably
contact the ASPCA or consult an operator. Remember that when you are reporting animal abuse
you must provide as much information as possible. And of course, support your local shelter or
animal rescue organization. It takes only a small step to stop animal cruelty. Get involved. Be
their voice.
All in all, these animals need your help. They don't have voices for themselves, so today
we are their voices. Animal cruelty is everywhere and it needs to stop. Innocent animals are
being harmed, even killed because of humans, but the animals haven't done anything to us. Can
you live with that guilt?