MINISTERUL EDUCAȚIEI NAȚIONALE

COLEGIUL TEHNIC ENERGETIC

SIBIU

LUCRARE PENTRU OBŢINEREA

ATESTATULUI DE COMPETENŢĂ
LINGVISTICĂ LA LIMBA ENGLEZĂ

Profesor coordonator:

Prof. Soare Constanţa

Elev:

Pătrașcu Sebastian

SIBIU
2020
 MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION
ENERGETIC TECHNICAL COLLEGE SIBIU
THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

ANIMAL CRUELTY

Scientific Advisor:

Soare Constanţa, Teacher

Student:

Pătrașcu Sebastian

Sibiu
2020
 CONTENTS

ANIMAL CRUELY FREE 5

INTRODUCTION 4

CHAPTER I- THE HISTORY OF ANIMAL ABUSE 6

CHAPTER II: ANIMAL ABUSE CASES 9

a. ANIMAL TESTING 9
b. LUXURIOUS TASTES 11
c. ZOOS, CIRCUSES AND HABITAT LOSS 13

CONCLUSION 16

SOURCES 17
 INTRODUCTION

I chose this topic because I love animals, all kind of animals. As I was little, I
grew up at the countryside, where animals were a big part of my life. As there were not
so many kids to play with, I started spending a lot of time with the animals my
grandparents had in their yard, but also found a real interest in the wild animals that I
could see from time to time wandering about in search for food or out of curiosity. For
instance, I will always remember my dog Marshmallow, a loyal playful dog that I spent
quality time with over several years.
I will always treasure those moments when my loneliness was replaced with
laughter, games and lots of fun by the animals that were always there to play with me,
without judgement or hesitation on their part, many times, more committed than people.
I am more than sure that I am not the only one whose childhood memories are
dearer also thanks to the animals- pets or otherwise- that were our close companion. Yet,
despite their being nothing but helpful and loyal, most animals have always been
mistreated throughout the humankind history. This sad situation made me take a closer
look to the relationship between people and animals and how this relationship evolved
over the years. In fact, my paper is going to analyse from a closer angle the importance
and uses of animals in the past, maybe thousands of years ago, and how they are being
used now.
Also, I will try to approach certain issues that have risen quite a lot of debate since
their appearance, such as using animals for testing cosmetics or drugs, or even as pets.
Why is that? Just because I feel that lately, in the last dozens of year humankind has
exaggerated in taking advantage of the other races that try to co-habit here on Earth with
us.
After all, we have been all placed here on earth and we as human beings- a race
we consider to be the only one with reason, should also probably be the one in charge of
taking care of this place, of preserving it as it was many, many years ago, by protecting
its assets- plants and trees, birds and animals- and by making sure that earth as we knew
it remains the same or even better for as long as we tread upon it.
And we cannot but wonder if in the long run human beings have not switched
from being a race endowed with reason to treason, being probably the most treacherous
of all races, capable of serious crimes as long as comfort and luxurious trifles are
attained.

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 As a result, my paper is structured into 2 chapters, with the first chapter entitled
The History of Animal Abuse outlining the history of our relationship with the various
animals around, and the second chapter, entitled Animal Abuse Cases, focusing on some
issues that have troubled many people lately, regarding the other races on Earth than us.

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 CHAPTER I- THE HISTORY OF ANIMAL ABUSE

To begin discussing the history of animal cruelty is to go back literally to ancient

times. We human beings and animals go way back into this planet’s history as we started
populating earth approximately at the same time, since life in its smallest form appeared
on earth.
In the beginning, man might have felt fear of animals, especially of those bigger
ones, as man was afraid and in a way still is, of everything he could not understand.
Whenever man does not understand something, he fears it, then he tries to analyse it and
then labels that something as being useful, or not useful, beautiful, or on the contrary
ugly, important, or quite disposable. But, quite surely at first, man feared animal. Being
more isolated and not at all as developed into a social community as we are now, in the
past people used to avoid having any kind of encounter with the animals that co-habited
earth at the time.
Then, we realised that in fact we need more nutritional food to keep us warm over
the harsh winter, so, beside the plants and fruits we used to eat, we started hunting
animals. After we discovered fire, hunting animals might have become even more
frequent as prepared meat turned out to be quite a source of proteins and fat man needed.
But then man realised something: certain animals had more to offer than just meat,
some of them had eggs that we could eat, other milk that we could give to our young, or
fur and skin we could use to cover ourselves as well as feathers to ornate our clothes.
Also, we became taming the animals, so we could use them in easing our work, in
traction for example, in agriculture. Throughout history, humans believed in a God-given
right to treat human animals with cruelty. This was just the beginning, of course but from
there our relationship with the animals around us has gone only downhill.
Being part of a certain tribe was quite a pride, so the number of animals that were
hunted and killed, or the number of animals you ended up owning was like a competition
between tribes and the more you had the more powerful your tribe was. Then people
decided they needed distinctive clothes to show everybody they belong to a certain tribe,
so all sorts of accessories and clothes ornaments appeared, where parts of animals or
used. Sometimes they used fangs of certain animals they killed, or bones which were
carved and worn in a certain way, or maybe clothes adorned of colourful feathers or

6
warm fur. And although everything might have started from necessity in a short time
became rather a symbol of wealth or of status.
And at first it seemed acceptable because at the time, there were not many people,
and so, not many animals were killed for the reasons mentioned above. But, as years
passed by, the population on earth multiplied and only this reason only would have been
enough to produce huge damage on animals. Unfortunately, not only did the number of
people grew, but also we have become more demanding and more spoilt as a race, acting
more and more often as if we are masters of the earth and as if everything around us is
here just to please our every desire, desire of comfort, of satisfying our curiosity of trying
something new, as well out of a need to always have more and more.
As years passed, people “evolved” and looking around they realised they needed
more for their comfort and also something to occupy their free time, so some entertaining
activities appeared. They started hunting and fishing not out of necessity, for food, as it
was in the past but rather for fun, having real contests with whom managed to kill the
most animals. So from food there was a transition to having fun at the expense of the
plants and animals around. Still in the field of entertainment, people realised that they
could have various animals fight against each other and then place bets on which animal
is going to win, thus using animals not only out of necessity but even to make money by
taking advantage of them.
Fighting dogs for sport, for example, has been traced back as far as the 12th
Century, after the war that ensued when the Romans invaded Britain. The British, though
they lost the war, delighted in the tenacity and endurance of their dogs, and began
exporting them for use in pit fights against larger animals like wild boar and bulls. For
centuries these fights occurred across Europe until the baiting of larger animals was
prohibited in 1835. At this point, dog-on-dog combat became the cheaper, legal
alternative and the fighting dogs, as well as the taste for the brutal blood sport was
exported to other countries including the United States (Villavicencio 2007).
Cockfighting (a fight between two game roosters) has its roots deep in American
history and culture, with many of the founding fathers being fond of (and participating in)
the blood sport. It wasn’t until June of 2007 that cockfighting was made illegal in
Louisiana, the last of the 50 states to ban the activity – though the ban did not take effect
until August of 2008 (Wikipedia). Though illegal throughout the US at this point,
cockfighting still occurs with disturbing frequency across the country, particularly in the
rural south and in areas with immigrant populations in whose home countries
cockfighting may still be legal and part of the cultural norm.

7
 And if you thought this was already bad, this is in fact only the beginning. In the
mean time we have started using animals for testing various products, from cosmetics,
such as creams, make-up or perfumes, to medicine and vaccines.
For example, an estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the United
States, alone for scientific and commercial testing. Animals are used to develop medical
treatments, determine the toxicity of medications, check the safety of products destined
for human use, and other biomedical, commercial, and health care uses. Research on
living animals has been practiced since at least 500 BC.
This abuse and misuse of animals has quite a lot of supporters who state that this is
the only way we can make certain products and be sure they are not harmful for the
human body, by testing them first on animals and that instead of harming people, we
should sacrifice some dozens of thousands of animals for the benefit of humankind, as
animal testing has contributed to many life-saving cures and treatments.
There are also more marginal abuses of animals, that might not be considered
abuses by many, but, personally I think that in most cases humankind might do without,
such as animals being used in circuses, and even the zoos sometimes, I think are an abuse
by taking animals out of their natural habitat, just so that we can see them for 5 minutes
or so every two or three years. Also having exotic pets, or animals that are not normally
meant to live in a house, but in an Amazonian forest for example, I think it is an abuse as
it goes against the natural order of things. These birds or animals are taken away, against
their will, by force and sold to various pet companies and then end up in someone’s
house where they can be loved or not, but basically the way they are taken as if they are
our own property and we may dispose of them as we please, is something that is
blameable.
In conclusion, the history of man and the animals around is quite a terrible one
with the man always taking advantage of the animals that we should be rather trying to
protect. We consider ourselves to be the better race, the one endowed with reason, so we
should do whatever is in our power to protect and wisely used what is on earth.
Yet, we have ended up doing exactly the contrary. More will be tackled in the
following chapter where I would present more in detail some abuses of the animals.

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 CHAPTER II: ANIMAL ABUSE CASES

As we have seen in the previous chapter, animals around the world are being taken
out of their natural habitats, being breaded and fed antibiotics. Cruelty among the animals
range from puppy mills, zoos, factory farms, and many more. People who hurt animals
may not even know they are doing harm to them, but animals are dying all around us.
In the following chapter we are going to take a look at some aspects of animal
abuse- the use of animals for animal testing, the over-consumerism and the exaggerated
proneness for luxurious tastes in clothing as well as dishes, and the people’s need for
satisfying certain curiosities and pleasures through zoos, circuses and owning a pet.

a. ANIMAL TESTING

Throughout the history of science, medicine and cosmetic industry there have been
many experiments and trials on animals which might have seemed justified at the time.
Of course, there is no doubt that without most of those tests, we would not have had so
many advances in the field of medicine, for example. It only seems natural that if we
want to make medicine you cannot test it at first on human beings as at least, at first it
may cause serious side effects, even death.
Animal research is the process of using non-human animals to control variables
that may affect biological systems or behaviours in experiments. It is the process of
animal testing that is done under the guise of research to benefit humanity, but the
applied research may have little or no concern to the animals involved.
Up to 100 million animals, from fish to chimpanzees, may be used every year for
the purpose of animal research. Reptiles, amphibians, fish, rats, and mice make up about
85% of the testing population in any given year. Also, an estimated 26 million animals
are used every year in the United States for scientific and commercial testing. Animals
are used to develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity of medications, check the
safety of products destined for human use, and other biomedical, commercial, and health
care uses.

9
 The advantage of animal research is that it puts no human lives at risk.
Experiments can take place to determine if a product or idea will work as intended. If it
does, then it can be tested on humans with a lower risk of a negative outcome.
In fact, nearly every medical breakthrough in the last 100 years has resulted
directly from research using animals. Experiments in which dogs had their pancreases
removed led directly to the discovery of insulin, critical to saving the lives of diabetics.
The polio vaccine, tested on animals, reduced the global occurrence of the disease from
350,000 cases in 1988 to 27 cases in 2016. Animal research has also contributed to major
advances in understanding and treating conditions such as breast cancer, brain injury,
childhood leukemia, cystic fibrosis, malaria,
multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, and many
others, and was instrumental in the
development of pacemakers, cardiac valve
substitutes, and anaesthetics. Chris Abee,
Director of the University of Texas M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center's animal research
facility, states that "we wouldn't have a
vaccine for hepatitis B without chimpanzees,"
and says that the use of chimps is "our best hope" for finding a vaccine for Hepatitis C, a
disease that kills thousands of Americans annually. If thalidomide had been properly
tested on pregnant animals, its potential for causing severe birth defects would have been
discovered before the drug became legal for human use.
But in case of medicine, the tests may be partially justifiable, and no one can deny
the positive results obtained. Hundreds of thousands of people have benefitted from the
drugs that treated them and cured them thanks to the experiments that have been
performed on animals.
There are 2 questions arising here: even if justifiable, in the case of medicine, is
everything done to prevent the animals tested from suffering and the second question
refers to the cosmetic industry, is it really necessary to test those products on animals, as
the cosmetic products, such as face creams or perfumes, are, after all, luxury products?
There are many people, including among scientists who are against animal testing
even for drugs and vaccines for various reasons. Firstly, animal testing is cruel and
inhumane. According to Humane Society International, animals used in experiments are
commonly subjected to force feeding, forced inhalation, food and water deprivation,
prolonged periods of physical restraint, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study

10
the healing process, the infliction of pain to study its effects and remedies, and killing by
carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means.
Many of these experiments cause pain to the animals involved or reduce their
quality of life in other ways. If it is morally wrong to cause animals to suffer then
experimenting on animals produces serious moral problems. Besides harming the
animals, experimenting on animals is also quite unacceptable because the benefits to
human beings are not proven and also because any benefits to human beings that animal
testing does provide could be, possibly produced in other ways, according to some.
So, there is this question of the moral and ethical quality of these experiments. Do
the benefits outgrow the harm done to millions of animals who do not have a say in it.
Personally, I think that people should try really hard to find alternative solutions instead
of using animals. We should not have the right to use animals, which were put here on
earth with us, they should have the same right as us, to live peacefully. Of course, once
someone close to you gets sick you are happy they can be cured with some kind of
treatment, without thinking of how that drug was discovered or produced. But if we sit
and think about it, it is really cruel. How would we feel if one day, we would be taken
away from our home, locked away and be tested upon? We are endowed with reason and
we will probably understand more than the poor animals what would happen to us, which
is a reason more why what we have been doing to animals is cruel and immoral and a
total abuse. Furthermore, regardless whether a race is endowed with reason or not, the
suffering is the same, and through these experiments we put various animals through a lot
of suffering and harm.

b. LUXURIOUS TASTES

Another case of abuse when it comes to animals is using them to satisfy the man’s
need for luxury. I refer here to the testing on animals for cosmetic products as well as to
some more exotic culinary tastes and delicacy eating.
Using animal testing in the development of cosmetics may involve testing either a
finished product or the individual ingredients of a finished product on animals, often
rabbits, as well as mice, rats, and other animals. Cosmetics can be defined as products
applied to the body in various ways in order to enhance the body's appearance or to
cleanse the body. This includes all hair products, makeup, nail products and soaps.
They estimate that approximately 100,000-200,000 animals suffer and die just for
cosmetics every year around the world. These are rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats and
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 mice. While dogs and monkeys are
never used to test cosmetics anywhere
in the world, they are used to test
other types of chemicals. Typically,
animal tests for cosmetics include skin
and eye irritation tests where
chemicals are rubbed onto the shaved
skin or dripped into the eyes of
rabbits; repeated oral force-feeding studies lasting weeks or months to look for signs of
general illness or specific health hazards, such as cancer or birth defects; and even widely
condemned “lethal dose” tests, in which animals are forced to swallow massive amounts
of a test chemical to determine the dose that causes death. These tests can cause
considerable pain and distress including blindness, swollen eyes, sore bleeding skin,
internal bleeding and organ damage, birth defects, convulsions and death. Pain relief is
not provided and at the end of a test the animals are killed, normally by asphyxiation,
neck-breaking or decapitation.
Almost without exception, companies have a choice about whether or not to test
on animals. In the majority of cases, animal tests continue because some companies insist
on developing and using “new” ingredients. These are ingredients that do not have
existing safety data—because they are new! So new safety data has to be generated to
satisfy the regulators before a product can go on sale, and that means new animal testing.
Animal testing also continues in the cosmetics industry because of convention—
that is the way it has always been done, animal tests are familiar even if they are flawed.
Regulators, whose job it is to approve cosmetics for use, tend to be very conservative in
their approach and can delay approving a product if the manufacturer provides safety data
based on unfamiliar non-animal test methods. Humane Society International works with
companies and regulators to increase their understanding and acceptance of modern non-
animal test methods.
Some companies claim that they have to test on animals because they sell their
products in countries like China where animal testing is still required by law for
companies importing into the country. But this is not entirely true. They have chosen to
sell in China knowing that to do so will mean new animal testing. Truly cruelty-free
companies such as LUSH and Paul Mitchell have pledge not to sell in China until the
animal test law is changed.
On the other hand, in a huge victory for animals, the European Union (EU), Israel,
and India have banned the sale of any cosmetics or cosmetics ingredients that have been

12
tested on animals. These marketing bans mean that companies all around the world will
have to abandon animal testing for cosmetics they want to sell in these huge markets. The
bans follow vigorous campaigning by PETA, its international affiliates, and members and
supporters that included public protests, phone calls, and tens of thousands of e-mails.
Another case of animal abuse is the tendency that there has been quite frequent
lately to eat various delicacies, such as singing birds, for example the ortolan bunting,
especially by the French. Hunters illegally catch some 30,000 of the 300,000 ortolans
that pass through southwestern France every migration season, which risks to lead to the
extinction of this species. Since the bird itself is very small, you actually need to eat more
than one at once, which means that quite many birds are necessary to please some fancy
guests.
To prepare the French delicacy ortolan bunting, one must capture the tiny songbird
as it attempts to migrate south for the winter, force feed it much like the witch from
“Hansel and Gretel” fattens up her hapless victims, and, finally, drown it in a vat of
Armagnac brandy.
Once the ortolan is dead (and, thanks to the brandy, marinated), it is cooked,
plucked and served. The diner traditionally veils their face with a napkin before
consuming the bird—bones, feet, head and everything but the beak—in a single bite. The
napkin is partly to keep in all the aromas of the dish, partly to disguise you having to spit
out some of the bigger bones. But, mostly, because diners wish to hide the shame of
eating such a beautiful creature from the eyes of God.
Today, ortolan poaching is illegal in France, but a thriving black market ensures
the highly controversial dish continues to be served. There are actually activists who state
that there is quite an active import of such singing birds and others from various countries
from southern countries of Europe.
This is probably the most shocking case of lust eating, more so probably because it
relates to the French who are, otherwise quite a civilised people and culture. There are,
however, plenty more such cases, in which just to satisfy certain culinary curiosities and
tastes, many animals or birds are sacrificed.

c. ZOOS, CIRCUSES AND HABITAT LOSS

Another aspect that one could not neglect when approaching the problem of
animal abuse is the constant need that people have to keep themselves busy and

13
entertained. They have been doing this for centuries. The minute they made everything
possible to make their lives more comfortable, they had more free time on their hands, so
the idea that they could use that time to have fun, relax, or enjoy themselves. So, various
means of entertainment appeared, among which going to the zoo and going to the circus.
Considered from a distance these two do not seem to be very abusive, yet one
cannot but wonder if these animals are protected in the zoos, maybe extinct animals that
are brought into controlled medium so that they can be better saved, or whether they are
rather snatched from their natural habitat and then end up being put in quite small cages,
many times made of concrete and iron bars, no matter the weather. Of course, people
want to see wild animals closer and watch their behaviour, but putting them in cages is
inhumane and goes against any moral values, unless, as I stated previously, they are
confined for their own benefit, rather saving from some kind of external danger they are
facing.
Many times, these animals are not well taken care of, they are barely fed, and kept
in a climate that is totally different from their natural one. Also, many times, they are
kept in isolation which goes against the nature of many of them, such as lions or wolves
for example, which would live in herds or packs.
Furthermore, circuses use animals and force them to perform certain tricks against
their will. They train the animals by giving them positive but also negative rewards, just
to force them to learn things that normally they would not perform. They say animals are
cute, and many children like to go to the circus and enjoy seeing animals, such as cats,
dogs and even wild animals, elephants for example, perform certain acts. It might look
nice on paper, but again, this is not in their nature, they are taken away from their natural
habitats and made to do something by force. Sometimes, some of the animals are not
taken from the wild but were probably born in captivity, still this does not change
anything. It is cruel to keep animals locked away like that and force them to perform
certain acts just for our own amusement.
Finally, the fact that the population has grown so much in the last centuries has led
to deforestation, which affected the natural habitat of many species. We need more and
more space to build houses, factories, roads for us to travel, we also pollute while doing
so, and because of that much of the green land is no longer there for some species to be
able to live freely. Some of them just die, others are forced to live in smaller, more
restrained spaces, many times being deprived of food. This would explain the sighting of
so many bears coming almost into cities in Romania, for example, or monkeys practically
invading cities, in search for food. This is also a form of abuse, even if it is not direct, but
it is still strong and it affects many animals around the globe.

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15
 CONCLUSION

It pains me to see how much damage we can do to almost everything we touch,

whether it is the land, the air, the flora and the fauna surrounding us….everything which
once was rich and abundant and was natural, as it was meant to be, has been transformed
under the harmful influence of man.
There is a lot of devastation, pollution and abuse against nature that the man has
been doing form almost the very beginning we set foot on earth. At first, it might have
seemed necessary, because we made everything in our power to evolve and make our life
better, but in the end it turned out to quite a profitable situation for human beings only, at
the detriment of other species co- habiting here. We have become so accustomed to use
everything around us- plants, minerals, land, animals, that we no longer stop even for ne
second to wonder whether what we do is right or wrong. We stopped questioning our acts
a long time ago. We now act almost like gods or owners of earth, doing what we please
with it, but basically harming it beyond almost no repair.
While reading more about this topic, I was shocked to see all the abominable
things we, the reasonable race, are capable of doing to other, innocent and less capable of
defending themselves animals. I would dare say that all these deeds are almost
unforgivable, as many times are done from selfish reasons, as if only we as human beings
have to right to live better, have longer and healthier lives, eat better and also look and
feel better. Why is that? Why would not other races wish the same thing, why would they
not have the same rights as we do? What could possibly justify our acts? And when and
where will this end? And more important, how?

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 SOURCES

 https://animal-testing.procon.org/

 http://www.aboutanimaltesting.co.uk/using-animals-testing-pros-versus-cons.html

 https://vittana.org/14-pros-and-cons-of-animal-research

 https://www.peta.org/blog/top-five-reasons-stop-animal-testing/

 https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/arguments-against-animal-

testing

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/experiments_1.shtml

 https://www.hsi.org/news-media/about_cosmetics_animal_testing/

 https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/cosmetic-

household-products-animal-testing/

 https://www.peta.org/living/personal-care-fashion/beauty-brands-that-you-

thought-were-cruelty-free-but-arent/

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testing_cosmetics_on_animals

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