Brianna Stewart

What is Animal Abuse?

Animal cruelty normally falls into two categories: neglect, or intentional cruelty. Neglect is the failure to provide adequate water, food, shelter, or necessary care. Examples of neglect include: starvation, dehydration, inadequate shelter, parasite infestations, failure to seek veterinary care when an animal is in need of medical attention, allowing a collar to grow into an animal's skin, confinement without adequate light, ventilation, space or in unsanitary conditions, and failure to trim hoofs or nails resulting in excessive growth (e.g. hoofs curling upwards). In some cases neglect is a result of the owner's ignorance, and can be rectified by law enforcement authorities, educating the owner and issuing orders to improve the animal's living conditions. Equally disturbing as neglect is the brutality of intentional cruelty, involving deliberate physical harm or injury inflicted on an animal. Regretfully, cases of animals being beaten, burned, poisoned or stabbed to death are not uncommon. In some cases neglect or cruelty is the result of people using animals as tools for commercial profit, such as in the cases of puppy mills, dog fighting, cock fighting and illegal slaughterhouses.

Ways to Recognize Animal Cruelty

Wounds on the body. Severely overgrown nails (often curling under) or hooves (often curling upwards). Patches of missing hair. Extremely thin, starving animals with ribs or backbone protruding. Infected eyes that have been left untreated. Limping. Animals who are repeatedly left alone without food and water. Often they are chained up in a yard. Animals who have been hit by cars and have not received veterinary attention. Animals who are kept outside without shelter in extreme weather conditions. An owner kicking, hitting or physically abusing an animal. Animals who cower fearfully or act aggressively when their owners approach. Severe flea or tick infestations left untreated. Animals left in a car on a hot or cold day. Animals crammed into tiny cages in overcrowded conditions. Abandonment Reptiles with dull, darkened skin, tremors, gaping mouth and excessive saliva, or experiencing difficulty climbing. Illegal trapping of wild animals or animals left for extended periods in traps. Excessive scratching of the head area, shaking of the head and dirt or discharge in ears indicative of a possible ear infection. Chronic diarrhea or vomiting. Animals kept in dirty conditions including being forced to stand in their own urine and excrement. Swellings, such as tumors or abscesses, left untreated. Rabbits with a severe head tilt. Slaughter by untrained individuals

In reported animal cruelty cases, dogsand pit bull-type dogs, in particular are the most common victims of animal cruelty. Of 1,880 cruelty cases reported in the media in 2007:

64.5% (1,212) involved dogs 18% (337) involved cats 25% (470) involved other animals Reported abuse against pit bull-type dogs appears to be on the rise: in 20002001, pit bull-type dogs were involved in 13% of reported dog-abuse cases; in 2007, they were involved in 25% of reported dog-abuse cases. Horses According to the American Horse Council, Americans own more than 9 million horses, up from more than 6 million in the mid-1990s. Backyard breeding fueled the boom in pet horses. Of the more than 2 million Americans who own horses, more than one-third have a household income of less than $50,000 Neither the total number of horse neglect cases nor the percentage of total animal abuse cases classified as horse neglect has risen since the closure of all U.S. horse slaughter plants.