Animal Cruelty During The Victorian Era

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing”-Albert Einstein. Abuse towards animals occurs when humans cause harm to animals intentionally or unintentionally. Animal Cruelty during the Victorian Era is similar to the present day because people beat animals as punishment. However in the present day more people are hoarding animals as a result of being emotionally troubled rather than having a criminal motive, and people have started to stand up against abusive behavior towards animals.
Maltreatment of animals has been present since before the Victorian Era, and even after decades the same type of abuse has not gone away. In the Victorian Era the common way to control your
In the Victorian Era one of the only types of animal cruelty was beating your animal to be mean or to make it behave. But in the present day more people have started hoarding animals. “Animal hoarding occurs when an individual is housing more animals than he or she can adequately care for. It is a complex issue that encompasses mental health, animal welfare and public safety concerns. Animal hoarding is defined by an inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and veterinary care—often resulting in animal starvation, illness and death”(ASPCA,2017).Hoarding can be worse for the animals involved than being beaten. “Every year in the United States, a quarter of a million animals fall victim to hoarding. Animals collected range from cats and dogs to reptiles, rodents, birds, exotics and even farm animals. Animal hoarding is covered implicitly under every state’s animal cruelty statute, which typically requires caretakers to provide sufficient food, water and veterinary care”(ASPCA,2017). Also most hoarders do not have their animal spayed or neutered, which allows the animals to slowly multiply and become even harder to take care of. Also “In the majority of cases, animal hoarders believe they are helping their animals and deny this inability to provide minimum care” “In the majority of cases, animal hoarders believe they are helping their animals and deny this inability to provide minimum care” (ASPCA, 2017). On top of hoarding in the present day organizations have been founded to stop animal cruelty like the ASPCA. “The ASPCA’s efforts to protect animals span from federal laws to local courts to community engagement. We’re helping to prevent harmful situations for animals and to take action when they occur”(ASPCA,2017). These organizations did not exist in the Victorian Era when people did not think mistreating animals was