Domestic Animal Abuse Essay

Domestic sentient being cry is a difficult topic to separate from the agendas of those who would check it. The reports atomic number 18 certainly horrible enough on their own a husband and wife are arrested for shipping 182 brutesmostly colliesin a tractor-trailer truck, a ho occasion is effect filled with filthy, dying cats, dogs, and birds hundreds of dogs be bugger off flat annu bothy from being left unattended in the cars during the summer heat. Of course, wolfs do not need to die en masse for exclaim to take key.Every day, family pets are forced to suffer hatred that would be otherwise aimed at military personnel family members, they are tied(p) outside without food and water, or they are simply ignored to death. Combating fauna abuse can be difficult, however. In addition to the agendas shaping any efforts against it, no single legal definition exists for what constitutes domestic beast abuse. Because of this lack of a single definition, there can be no single u nionise of prosecution. Yet, the signification of animal abuse goes far beyond that of the obvious cruelty to animals.It can be used as a predictor for people who develop sociopathy and has been machine-accessible with the occurrence of domestic abuse in the home. This paper will be used to discuss some of the difficulties that are associated with defining and legislating domestic animal abuse. It will a resembling offer some discussion of the effects of this pervasive problem. Defining Domestic Animal Abuse Despite each(prenominal) of the annual occurrences of domestic animal abuse, there is no single definition for what constitutes such abuse.Animal rights extremist organizations, such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), the Humane order for the coupled States (HSUS), and the Doris Day Animal League (DDAL) all believe that any use of animals constitute animal abuse. Ultimately, according to these organizations, any use of domestic animals constitutes a buse even merely keeping a pet in ones home is an abusive act. Using this reason any animal husbandry, from fosterage chickens for eggs, to keeping cows for milk, or any recessicipation in the meat or fur industry constitutes abuse.Medical science represents the worst of these abuses, since it takes away the rights of an animal by sacrificing its health or life in favor of preserving human health or lives (Goodwin and Morrison). Legal definitions of domestic animal abuse, or animal cruelty, are much broader than this very narrow stance. Many state laws define animals as being vertebrate animals that are not human beings, although some states too let in birds such as parrots or sparrows, as well. separate states do not refer to what defines an animal at all. In addition, some states do not concede fish or shellfish to be intromitd in the discussion.If the laws bear oning the definition of animal, pet or companion animal are so variable, then it should come as no surprise that laws defining abuse itself are varied, as well. However, it is common to break cruelty to animals down into two broad categories passive (acts of omission) and restless (acts of commission). Although there are no clearly defined categories for these acts or inactions, there are certain poses of behavior that occur under the overall umbrella of animal cruelty or abuse (Animal Cruelty, n. d. , par. 1).Passive acts of cruelty are sometimes called animal neglect. These kinds of cruelty usually involve withholding something from the animal, such as food or water. In addition, passive acts might include failure to act if a pet becomes infested with any kind of parasite or if a collar becomes embedded into a pets skin overdue to the growth of the pet (Pet-Abuse. com pars. 4-5). In general, neglect is treated as a nestling offense if only one animal, or a small number of animals, is involved. The severity of the crime increases, however, with and progressively large number of animals involved.Neglect cases whitethorn alike be divided between unintentional neglect, caused by ignorance, and intentional or willful neglect, caused by knowingly mistreating an animal (Lockwood, 2006, p. 19). Active acts of cruelty include force out against animals, often referred to as torture, malicious intent, or non-accidental injury (Animal Cruelty, n. d. , par. 6). Such abuse is of greater concern than is passive animal abuse. Some forms of violent active animal abuse is associated with other crimes, such as domestic abuse or child abuse. These abuses can also be used as a predictor of other crimes.Both of these observations will be expanded upon in a later section of this paper. Animal hoard, organized sporting abuse, ritualistic abuse, and the use of animals for sexual gaiety are all forms of active animal abuse (Lockwood, 2006, pp. 20-23). All of these forms of animal abuse are serious numbers, causing both concern and expense for the community as a whole. Even animal ho rding, which is sometimes caricatured in moviesperhaps with an elderly female character with a house wide-eyed of skinny, yowling catsshould be a matter of concern for society. cod to the hidden concerns of this form of abuse somewhat more discussion will be given to this form of abuse than the other three mentioned. Animal hoarding is a familiar to many of us however, it is not always recognized for the problem that it is. It seems to be increasingly common to hear about a raid on a home that contains dozens, if not hundreds, of malnourished and half-wild animals, even if it is only reported as a human interest story or in the late-night television comedians monologue. However, according to Patronek, Loar, and Nathanson (2006) animal hoardingis an important, misunderstood, and under-recognized community problem that affects both human and animal welfare. It is responsible for substantial animal suffering and dimension damage. Often associated with adult self-neglect, animal hoard ing can also place children, elders, and dependent adults at serious risk and can be an economic burden to taxpayers. (p. 1) Although not always recognized as a problem, animal hoarding is relatively clear to identify. It is characterized by four factors 1) the lack of the minimum physical care needed by the animals,2) the abusers inability to recognize the abuse, 3) the obsession to continue stack away animals even when the number of animals housed exceed the ability to provide ideal living conditions, and 4) the abusers denial that the declining conditions exist (Patronek, Loar, & Nathanson, 2006, p. 1). Despite these common factors, however, animal hoarding is not a simple problem to contain. Several different kinds of animal hoarding exist, from the fairly benign overwhelmed caregiver to the person who acquires animals only to exploit them.Because of the disagreement of situations in which a person might begin hoarding animals, these classifications are fluid and characterist ics might overlap. Sporting abuse is, fortunately, not as widespread as it was even 100 years ago. However, although most people think automatically of dog fighting and chicken fighting when animal blood sports are mentioned, others also exist. Despite their cultural acceptance, blood sports such as bullfighting in Spain and pit sports, such as fighting dogs and wild hogs in the Southeastern fall in States, might still be considered animal abuse.Ritualistic abuse is considered above and beyond the ability to sacrifice animals in the practice of a religion. While unearthly animal sacrifice is not included in most animal abuse statutes, it is often carefully defined and controlled by the law. Other forms of ritual animal killing is considered abuse and may be an indication that person committing the act has other serious psychological issues at work. This kind of abuse is incites communities to an emotional furor, due to the association that it has with allegedly satanic rituals and other hot button issues.For this reason, this kind of abuse is particularly disruptive to the community. Finally, some people find sexual gratification in congress with animal partners, known as bestiality. In truth, there is no partnership between the human abuser and the animal being abuse in such a manner. Animals cannot voluntarily decide to take a human being as a mate or not. Therefore, they must be forced to act against their instinctive drives in order to comply with their human partners desires.This act of force is a violation of animal abuse laws in many nations (Lockwood, 2006). However, it should be noted that stimulation of an animal to collect sperm for frozen or cold storage for the purposes of artificial insemination is not considered bestiality. Other Laws Concerning Animal Abuse Not all nations agree on what constitutes animal abuse. While tail docking and ear cropping is currently legal in the United States, it is considered a form of animal mutilation in the U nited Kingdom.The Animal eudaimonia Act, signed by Elizabeth II in 2006, extends animal abuse laws to include invertebrates and gives municipalities to include animals in their foetal or embryonic form, should they choose to do so (p. 1). However, they may only do so as long as the captivate national authority is satisfied, on the basis of scientific evidence, that animals of the kind concerned are capable of experiencing pain or suffering (Animal Welfare Act, 2006, p. 1).This act also clearly defines the terms protected animals and unnecessary suffering for the purposes of the law, as well as the manner by which individuals can be held responsible for that suffering (Animal Welfare Act, 2006, p. 2). It is interesting to note that only domestic animals are defined as protected animals no matter what the behavior perpetrated upon them, wild animals, by definition, cannot be abused. Germany, like the rest of the European Union, attaches a moral stance to the protection of animals th rough their laws.This stance is in contrast to that of the United States, which protect animals in terms of property laws. Although the European perspective may appear to be superior to some, both positions have some advantages. Moral stances are not always target area ones however, objective stances sometimes reduce decisions to a quantifiable decision-making process, which does not always allow for human needs and opinions to enter into the equation.In addition to laws concerning the abuse and husbandry of all domestic animals, the German law also defines limits for those individuals who wish to breed domestic animals. However, with all of these limitations, The German law does not specifically cover the hoarding of animals. The substance of Animal Abuse Animal abuse is not only significant because it brings harm to sentient beings that humans should have an obligation to protect, it is also significant because of its kindred to other problems that plague society.These issues a re not limited to any one race, ethnic group, religion, age, or income level. jibe to Lockwood (2006) juveniles perpetrate approximately one third of all animal abuse crimes (p. 33). In such cases, animal abuse might be indicative of abuse being perpetrated within the home, either against the juvenile or another family member, or it may indicate mental disease on the part of the juvenile him or herself (Lockwood, 2006).Lockwood identifies 15 major factors in determining the insecurity that the animal abuser presents to society. This list includes the vulnerability and the number of the animal victims, the severity and the repetition or number of forms of abuse on the victim(s), any threats that the animal abuse might have been meant to reinforce, and the manner of recording, if any, of the abuse (p. 35). Research reported in the Juvenile Justice Bulletin (JJB) (2001) indicates a link between conduct distemper in children and animal abuse.Conduct disorder as defined by the Diagnos tic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMIV) is a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated (par. 1). In addition, the child must conform to at to the lowest degree three of 15 other indicators for the disorder. One of these 15 indicators is animal abuse, which may range in intensity from mild teasing to torture and killing root system at the age of approximately 6. 5 years of age (Juvenile Justice Bulletin, 2001, par. 2).Children with Operational Defiant Disorder (ODD) or Conduct Disorder (CD) often go on to become serious offenders as adults. Children with CD often go on to be breakd as sociopaths later in life, as well. According to the JJB, the differences between children who abuse animals and non-abusive children are significantly different when tracked for adult arrests for violent crimes, property crimes, drug offenses, and public order offenses. The JBB conclud es that these results make it clear that animal abusers are not only dangerous to their animal victims but also may jeopardize human welfare (par.7). This research is backed up by Understanding the Links, a pamphlet put out by the British National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which states that If a child is cruel to animals this may be an indicator that serious neglect and abuse have been inflicted on the child. While recent research in the UK suggests that animal abuse by children is instead widespread, in a minority of more extreme cases it appears to be associated with abuse of the child, or subsequent abusive behavior by the child.(Understanding the Links, n. d. p. 5). In addition to the issue of conduct disorder, there is a definitive link between animal abuse and other forms of domestic abuse. Animal abuse is at times part of the constellation of family violence, although by no means is it definite that an adult who harms animals will also harm their dom estic partners or their children (p. 5). Although this observation is indeed original, it is also true that animal abuse is sometimes used as a form of irresistible impulse in abusive relationships. Regardless, it appears thato Serious animal abuse in a household may indicate the occurrence of other domestic violence o Animal abuse might be done for coercion and intimidation of family members to keep them from leaving or speaking about an abusive domestic situation. o Sexualized or aggressive behavior toward animals on the part of a child may indicate the possibility of later animal abuse when that child matures (Understanding the Links, n. d. , p. 5). Conclusion Animal abuse is a difficult crime to describe and to define. Many different forms of abuse occur under the single umbrella term.Abuse can be passive or active. Passive abuse takes place when people withhold care from animals and can range from simple ignorant (and therefore correctible) acts to malicious neglect. Active a buse, however, does not typically occur out of ignorance. Due to its effects on the human psyche, particularly in terms of young children, animal abuse is not a stand-alone issue. When domestic violence is found in a home, animal abuse is often found as well. When animal abuse occurs, it may also indicate other, serious problems in