Running head: ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE

Animals are Our Equals: Stop the Abuse Jeremy Wright DeVry University

ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE Animals are Our Equals: Stop the Abuse

When driving down the road, drivers see tons of animals that have been hit due to drivers not paying attention, or the animals deciding that crossing the highway or the road to get to a better food source was a good idea. These animals are trying to change their surroundings to help their families stay alive and grow. There are lots of animals out there that do not have this choice. When I was little, I remember going to the circus and seeing all the different animals being used to entertain me. Elephants, tigers, camels, monkeys and dogs; all were trained to perform for the tons of people in the audience. I never thought about the possibility of these animals being abused for not performing properly. These animals do not perform these acts of entertainment naturally. It takes a large number of hours to teach them to do these tricks. But what abuse are these animals being put through when they do not learn these tricks quickly enough for the shows being scheduled? What happens to them when they do not perform a trick correctly during a show? These are questions that I never thought about when I was a child, but I wonder now as an adult what all I was naive to as a child. Animal abuse is a problem that most people are not aware of in their communities, and animal experimentation by corporations should be severely restricted by state laws. Animals that are abused are harder to adopt and animal testing cannot provide adequate and reliable results for human consumption and use. Instead, the state governments could provide funding to assist state agencies in protection of animals and provide abuse awareness for communities, and pass laws to restrict the amount of testing that animals can be subjected to in their lifetimes. These laws could also subject companies to higher fines for breaking the rules. Animal abuse is a problem that most people are not aware of in their communities and abused animals are harder to adopt out. Dog-fighting is one abuse issue that has been around for

ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE years that exploits the raw and wild nature of dogs to attack when they are provoked. According to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), "Michael Vick's conviction in 2007 helped to bring this cruel underground blood sport into public spotlight. Experts estimate that tens of thousands of people are involved in professional dog fighting, while hundreds of

thousands might be participating in so-called "street-fighting" or informal dogfights." Owners of dogs that participate in dog-fighting rings do not see their acts of violence and abuse as harming their pets. These dogs sometimes fight to the death and if they do not pass away during these horrific acts of abuse, they are severely injured and forced to fight again and again. According to the ASPCA, "Street fights are often associated with gang activities and may be conducted with money, drugs or bragging rights as the primary payoff." Being a previous owner of a breed that is commonly used for dog-fighting, I find that this breed is commonly misunderstood and severely labeled for acts that they are not responsible for. The Pit-bull is a generalization of several breeds. Staffordshire Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, American Bulldogs, and American Pit Bull Terriers are all part of this generalization. The ASPCA gives a good rule of thumb for owning a pet. "It is important to remember any dog can behave aggressively, depending on the context, their genetic background, and their upbringing and environment. When a dog is treated well, properly trained and thoroughly socialized during puppyhood and matched with the right kind of owner and household, they are likely to develop into a well-behaved companion and cherished member of the family." (ASPCA) Most owners train their pets to do tricks like to sit, stay, and roll over; but there are some people in this world that train breeds like the Pit-bull to fight. "Some dogfighters train dogs by forcing them to tread water in pools; run on a treadmill while small animals are dangled in front of them; or to hang from their jaws on a chain baited with meat." (PETA) These dogs are

ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE not just being abused, but their trainers are abusing other smaller animals to provide their fights with the strongest most powerful dogs to make sure that they win. Other than dog fighting, there are tons of different types of abuse that animals go through, and these animals deserve better loving homes. Abused animals are harder to adopt out to good families due to the abuse that their previous owners have put them through. These

animals are scared, hurt, and mentally broke of any trust towards humans. Sometimes these trust issues cause the animals to attack when they feel threatened or scared. Rehabilitation is normally in order for these animals to be adopted out, but animal rehabilitation can be very expensive and causes local shelters to have time limits for their animals to be adopted. Due to the time limits being so short, these shelters normally result to one of two solutions for having more room for more animals; euthanization, or selling animals for experimentation. "National Euthanasia statistics are difficult to pinpoint because animal care and control agencies are not uniformly required to keep statistics on the number of animals taken in, adopted, euthanized or reclaimed. There is no national reporting structure to make compiling national statistics on these figures possible." (American Humane Association) This means that shelters do not need to report how many animals they kill compared to how many they take in each year. The selling of animals for experimentation is the other choice for over-crowded shelters. This allows the animals to escape euthanization, but subjects them to more cruel and unusual punishment. Research corporations use these animals for testing for new and upcoming products for human consumption and purchasing. Animal experimentation by research corporations should be severely restricted by state laws because animal testing cannot provide adequate and reliable results for human consumption and use. Allie Phillips discusses in her book " How Shelter Pets are Brokered for Experimentation: Understanding Pound Seizure that there are

ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE between 4,000 and 6,000 animal shelters in the United States today. She states that current shelters best practice, as endorsed by the National Animal Control Association, is that shelters should work with the community to locate adoptive homes for the animals, as well as upgrade facilities to provide compassionate housing for pets while providing a high quality of life and reducing disease transmission. But that is not always the case with shelters that are not governmentally funded and cannot provide the facilities to hold all the animals being brought to their doorsteps. "Pound seizures, sometimes called pound release, involve a shelter selling or giving away cats and dogs to Class B dealers, which are random source animal brokers licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who then resell the animals for research and experimentation." (Phillips, 2010) These brokers provide research facilities with the animals to test products on. PETA has invested in a program called "Cruelty Free" that is designated for the average person to search and see which companies use animals to test their products before they are released to the public for use. Some of the popular companies that currently use animals for testing are Revlon, Proctor & Gamble and S. C. Johnson. These companies provide familiar and popular products such as Almay, Scope and Pledge. Understanding why human products would be tested on animals can sometimes be reasonable for products like Almay and Scope; but why would products like Pledge need to be tested on animals. The corporation has a reason since its products are used in households where animals reside. These tests prove whether the family dog

or cat will get sick when furniture spray is used to clean the family couch. But who knows really what these animals are subjected to for the peace of mind of each individual pet owner. But other than knowing these products will not harm the family pet, what are the reasons to test these products on animals that do not have any physical likeness to the human race. Rats,

ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE mice, rabbits and guinea pigs are some of the animals that are commonly used for corporate experimentation. "These animals are forced to swallow or inhale massive quantities of a test substance or endure the pain of having caustic chemicals applied to their sensitive eyes and skin." (PETA) These animals do not have any physical likeness to the humans that will be buying these products. Most corporations feel that they are protecting the customers by using animals to test new products and medicines to make sure that the side effects are low level

enough to sell the product on a national level for human use. "Research laboratories must comply with the "the Three R's," a voluntary set of principles incorporated into all laws, policies and guidelines related to sentient research. The Guidelines for the Care and Use of Mammals in Neuroscience and Behavioral Research sets forth the Three Rs as Replacement (partially or fully replacing animals through the use of non animal systems or less-sentient species); Reduction (only using minimum number of animals required to obtain scientifically valid data); and Refinement (enhancing animal well-being through lessening or eliminating pain and/or distress)." (Phillips, 2010) These principles that Phillips describes provide reasoning as to why companies feel they are not wrong in choosing smaller, non-human like animals to test products and medicines on. "The research community often states that it is appropriate to obtain unwanted shelter dogs and cats for research rather than to produce another dog or cat through a Class A dealer that breeds animals for research." (Phillips, 2010) This common practice among the research community gives corporations the access to shelters to provide their animal test subjects. The issue at hand is questioning the use of animals from shelters and companies complying with the Replacement or Reductions principles of the Three Rs. One solution that could help stop animal abuse is the state governments could provide funding to assist state agencies in protection of animals and provide abuse awareness for

ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE communities. Community awareness is the key to fighting the abuse being done to animals by their owners. Ethan Smith explains in his book "Building an Ark: 101 Solutions to Animal Suffering" the different solutions for individuals, action groups, schools, cities, businesses, governments and global awareness. He discusses spaying and neutering animals, purchasing non-exotic animals for pets, and learning to recognize animal suffering. "Noticing visible

wounds, patches of missing hair, limping or showing pain are some of the signs that an animal is being abused."(Smith, 2007) Smith also discusses who to call when people notice these signs on neighborhood animals. "The ASPCA can help provide people with the information they need for local animal services."(Smith, 2007) State funding would help local and state agencies provide better care for abused and homeless animals in our communities. "Animal Sheltering in the United States can be broken down into three basic categories: Open-Admission shelters, Limited-Admission shelters, and Animal Rescue organizations." (Phillips, 2010) These three categories of shelters differ in funding and would be able to provide more help if better funding was available. "OpenAdmission shelters are funded by local governments and are responsible for enforcing local animal control laws and pet population control. These shelters tend to have high euthanasia rates and few resources. Limited-Admission shelters are normally funded by private donations or grants and have the resources to provide exceptional care and housing for the pets until adoptive homes can be found. But these shelters have limited space until animals are adopted out to loving families. Animal Rescue Organizations are normally setup as nonprofit charitable organizations. These organizations tend to house animals in foster care until they can be properly adopted out." (Phillips, 2010) Funding is the key principle for proper care and shelter for animals. Limited-

ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE admission shelters would be the best for most abused animals, but the problem is the "limited" space available in these shelters. Along with abuse awareness and funding, state laws need to be passed to restrict the amount of testing animals can be subjected to. Each state has their own laws and regulations for animal testing and abuse. The Humane Society of the United States graded the 50 states based on 65 different animal protection issues in 10 major animal protection categories including: animal fighting; animal cruelty; puppy mills; use of animals in research; equine protection; wildlife abuse; factory farming; fur and trapping; exotic animals and companion animal laws. Ohio is currently ranked 43rd out of 50, among the bottom set of states with the weakest animal protection laws. Ohio currently is one of the 11 states that does not have a

felony-level penalty in place for cockfighting, and currently does not have a felony-level penalty for illegally hunting an endangered species. Out of the 50 states ranked by the Humane Society of the Unites States, only three states: California, New Jersey and New York, currently prohibit the use of animals in product testing when an approved alternative is available. Only 16 states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and West Virginia, prohibit research facilities from obtaining pets from animal shelters. These ranges are incredibly small and unbelievable to realize when actually thinking about all large amounts of animals being abused and mistreated just for research and development of products in the United States. Creating laws to regulate or restrict companies from having unlimited time for testing on animals would cause the death rates of these animals to go down, and would allow loving families to be

ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE able to adopt them once they were cleared medically for adoption. Without these laws, death rates of animals will continue to rise. Subjecting companies to higher fines for breaking the laws would also remove unnecessary testing and abuse. This would create a common guideline for the US companies to adhere to. If they would be required to pay more for not complying with the law, companies would rethink the use of animals altogether, or at least comply with the Three Rs as discussed previously. There are lots of newly developed ways to test products without the use of animals, and companies need to start using these ways to show that their testing is more reliable.

"Establishing, Enacting and Assisting these companies are some of the best solutions for finding alternatives to animal experimentation. Establish a task force to seek alternatives to learn from both sides and credible sources for experimentation. Enact legislation to govern the procedures that take place, with tough and effective penalties if violated. Assist laboratories and research teams to use alternatives to animal experiments." (Smith, 2007) Creating laws to provide boundaries for these companies that choose to use animals as their test subjects is the best way for animal testing to be limited and unnecessary testing to stop. If we do not act fast to raise abuse awareness and put laws into place to restrict animal testing, more and more animals will experience unnecessary abuse and possibly death. The world revolves around constant balance between the land, the animals and the industry. If constant abuse of animals wipes out entire species, then that balance can be in severe danger of destruction. One of my favorite quotes is from Captain Paul Watson, a dedicated member to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and participant of the highly watched Animal Planet series "Whale Wars". "If the oceans die, then civilization collapses and we all die." (Watson, 2009) This is a severe and enlightening statement that is true in nature that we are all connected. We all

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depend on one another to survive. Abuse and unnecessary experimentation will cause the world to change drastically as we know it if something is not done to stop it.

Running head: ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE References

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Animal Protection, State by State. (2010, February 8). The Humane Society of the United States. Retrieved From: http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/02/humane_state_rankings_020 810.html Animal Shelter Euthanasia. (n.d.). The American Humane Association. Retrieved from http://www.americanhumane.org/animals/stop-animal-abuse/fact-sheets/animal-sheltereuthanasia.html Animal Testing 101. (n.d.) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Retrieved from http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animal-testing-101.aspx Cruelty-Free. (n.d.) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Retrieved from: http://www.peta.org/living/beauty-and-personalcare/companies/search.aspx?Testing=1&Range=0 Dog Fighting. (n.d.) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Retrieved from http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/Dogfighting.aspx Dog Fighting FAQ. (n.d.) The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Retrieved from: http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/dog-fighting/dog-fighting-faq.aspx Phillips, Allie. (2010, September). How Shelter Pets are Brokered for Experimentation: Understanding Pound Seizure. Retrieved from: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/devry/docDetail.action?docID=10437346 Smith, Ethan. (2007, October). Building an Ark: 1001 Solutions to Animal Suffering. Retrieved from: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/devry/docDetail.action?docID=10308837

ANIMALS ARE OUR EQUALS: STOP THE ABUSE State Animal Cruelty Laws. (n.d.). The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Retrieved from: http://www.aspca.org/Fight-Animal-Cruelty/Advocacy-Center/state-animal-crueltylaws.aspx Watson, Captain Paul. (2009, July 9th). What Will Happen to Us When the Oceans Die? Retrieved from: http://www.seashepherd.org/commentary-andeditorials/2009/07/08/what-will-happen-to-us-when-the-oceans-die-144

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