Cruelty to Animals – Causes and Effects

Animal abuse means acts of neglect or violence that cause the pain and suffering of
domestic and wild animals. With the development of modern civilization, this
problem and the attention to it have been continuously increasing. According to
Tanner (2015), today, “condemnation of cruelty to animals is virtually unanimous”
(p. 818). Despite the public disapproval of animal abuse, little is being done when
the cases occur. Moreover, numerous acts of animal neglect are not generally
considered as cruel due to the lack of awareness in society. Therefore, it is vitally
important to understand the negative impact of animal maltreatment on society,
particular individuals, and the animals to realize the seriousness of the problem and
take decisive actions.
Humans stand in the most dominating position among all the
species of Planet Earth. They are the ones who run farms, circuses and decide
whether to buy, adopt, or abandon a pet. The influence of humans has even spread
onto wild animals as they can kill them while hunting or destroy their environment.
According to Cooper (2018), domestic animals and pets exist exclusively at human
mercy. However, this should not mean that people are free to do anything they
want to animals, but, instead, signifies the responsibility of humans for treating
animals properly. Although the use of farm animals for food, leather, and fur is not
considered cruel by most of society, the practices that provoke unnecessary
suffering and pain should not be tolerated.
It should be mentioned that animal maltreatment
commonly appears in two forms – passive and active. Passive cruelty is the act of
making animals suffer without vicious motives, usually for commercial purposes.
Hurting animals in such a way does not imply aggression from humans;
nevertheless, such acts show irresponsibility from people in their attitude to
animals. This type of animal cruelty comprises such phenomena as inhumane
farming, training animals for entertainment shows, neglect, starvation, and
abandonment. Acts of animal maltreatment are considered illegal in the US.
However, they often happen throughout the country as it is difficult to prove them
and to find out who is guilty.
 As the reasons for passive cruelty often lie in ignorance or indifference,
active cruelty means deliberate and aggressive actions against animals to hurt and
torture them. Acts of violence against animals are studied more thoroughly by
scholars from various fields of study as they touch different aspects of social life
such as psychology, psychiatry, education studies, and criminalistics. Cruelty as a
psychological issue, especially at a young age, is a subject of concern for parents
and teachers, as such acts speak for psychical disorders.

The history of relationships between humans and animals is thousands of

years long. Our predecessors used animals for food and work as we do now, but
initially, this use was motivated by necessity. Today, people are not as much
dependent on animals, as there are various sources of food, and they do not need to
put animals to work as machines are more effective than horses or oxen. Despite
this, the exploitation of animals has only increased with the development of
civilization. The question is, what makes people act cruelly towards animals if it is
not a necessity.

Several reasons cause people to be cruel to animals today. First of all, commercial
motives should be mentioned as the desire to maximize profit from farming leads
to animal exploitation, such as factory farming. Testing products on animals is also
a step-in pursuit of commercial goals. Entertaining shows with animals, such as
circuses or bullfighting, were initially present in many cultures. However, the main
reason that they are still present despite the modern-day awareness is that they
bring money.

Secondly, ignorance and indifference are the reasons that mostly cause violence
towards pets. Some people use cruel types of training or inhumane procedures such
as declawing of cats without knowing that they hurt their pets. Other people do not
care about pets and neglect them. For example, they can leave a cat or a dog at
home alone for several days without food and water, or leave them freezing outside
at night. Irresponsible treatment is illegal and should be punished, but such cases
are rarely reported.

Sheer aggression is probably the most clamant reason for cruelty to animals.
Psychologists who study the nature of delinquent behavior claim that there is no
specific type of aggression aimed at animals. As Hoffer, Hargreaves-Company,
Moorhead, and Melody (2018) claim, it is possible to predict the violence to
humans by assessing the abuse of young people to animals. Their research shows
that, in most cases, animals become victims only because they are weaker and
cannot protect themselves from human rudeness.
From the ethical point of view, cruelty to animals should not be tolerated. It is
illegal to make animals feel pain or suffer, and it should be punished. However,
punishment, as it is rare and weak, is not a deterrent to animal abuse. That is why
the awareness should be raised about the effect of cruelty to animals on society.
After taking the first look at commercial maltreatment of animals, it seems that
there is no negative influence on society, as people seem only to benefit from it.
Nonetheless, factory farming can lead to the transmission of infections among
animals. Such outbreaks of diseases transmitted through products of animal origin
are registered in the US almost every year. In addition to this, the exploitation of
animals, especially with entertaining purposes, leads to cultural and ethical
degradation of society.
Indifference and ignorance of pets can have disastrous outcomes for them, as in the
result of such treatment, many of them die, starve or become abandoned. Children,
raised in families where cruelty to animals is tolerated, have the perception that it
is a norm and are likely to continue this tradition. As a result of abandonment,
cities are flooded with stray animals, which negatively influence the welfare of
residents.
Psychologists say that there is a direct link between violence to animals and people
(Bright et al., 2018). Deliberate, aggressive behavior to animals has been self-
reported by numbers of juvenile offenders, as the study shows. According to
Bright, Huq, Applebaum, and Hardt, animal abuse is a sign of delinquency:
“Compared to the larger group of juvenile offenders, the children admitting to
engaging in animal cruelty are younger at the time of the first arrest” (p. 287).
Reporting and assessing such incidents is necessary, as it can serve for prediction
and prevention of further aggression against humans.
The analysis of the effect cruelty to animals has on the society shows that there are
numerous negative consequences of such acts, as there are no animal abuse cases
that have absolutely no outcomes. The effects on humans are different, but the
effect on animals is always the same – creatures capable of affection and devotion
are suffering and dying. Viewing animals only as objects can not lead to effective
and happy co-existence, whereas compassion and care provide mutual gain.