Animal Cruelty

Animal Cruelty There are many things that are illegal in this country such as; drugs, theft and animal cruelty to name a few. These laws are almost always broken especially animal abuse. For me this is considered one of the worst things that a person can do to an animal because animals can’t defend themselves, people just abuse them for the fun of it or it could also be neglect. What can be done to stop such cruelty against animals? What exactly is animal cruelty? According to Stacy Wolf, vice president of the ASPCA there is no simple answer because animal cruelty is defined differently from state to state. Offenses that are considered against animals include abuse, neglect, animal fighting, abandonment and practicing veterinary medicine on animals without a license. Wolf also states that in every state the laws for animal cruelty are quite different but cover almost any animal. For example, “New York law covers “ every living creature except a human being”, while California law covers “every dumb creature”.” (Wolf). These states are quite blunt on explaining their laws against animal cruelty. But Arizona gives more of an explanation on which animals are protected under the law which are mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. There are felony provisions for animal cruelty in forty-seven states excluding Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota. But before all of these laws were in the forty-seven states, in 1986 only four states had laws against animal cruelty. The human society states that only forty-two out of the forty-seven states had their laws enacted in the last three decades (www.humanesociety.org). There are two types of animal cruelty: intentional and neglect. Intentional cruelty to an animal is when an owner of an animal purposely wants to hurt and cause pain to a poor defendless animal. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals which is an organization in the U.K. that helps animals, had a case of intentional

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