Animal Cruelty Around the WorldAccording to the HSUS "nearly 1 million animals per year are abused or killed in connection with domestic violence."(Humane Society of the United States, "Cruel Practices") This is only counting animals that are physically abused, which means it doesn't even touch on the fact that there are many forms of cruelty in laboratory testing, farm slaughter, clubbing, and make them live in terrible structures. Every year, 1 million animals are abused or killed around the world. This doesn't even mention other forms of cruelty like lab testing, slaughter, and the terrible facilities animals live in. Now, when you add it all together it equates to more than a million, but most forms of this abuse are government-sanctioned so it is not considered a form of “cruelty.” This means that unless we change the government's mindset, we will never have a new view on animal cruelty around the world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay No country is left out of the animal abuse list as every country has its share. Animal cruelty is an ongoing problem that will continue everywhere in the world. Cruelty to animals has been around as long as humans have dealt with animals. Some cases of animal cruelty include dog fighting, bullfighting, seal beatings, animal testing, and everyday animal abuse. According to the Humane Society, dog fighting is "a 'competition' in which two dogs, specifically bred, conditioned and trained to fight, are placed in a pit to fight each other for the entertainment of spectators and gambling ." (“Dog Fighting Fact Sheet”) These dogs fight for the entertainment of people watching and are born/raised into this lifestyle. The owners who take care of these animals do not care what happens to these animals after the fight, they normally let the lost animal die of infection caused by wounds, starvation, or even kill the lost animal. All over the world dog fighting is mostly illegal, but some places still allow it. In areas such as North America, South America, much of Russia, Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan, dog fighting is prohibited, but it is still present. Many of the people interested in dog fighting do not worry about the minimal consequences that may follow their capture due to how much can be gained in these fights. Two fight wins alone could earn you enough to pay your dog's bills for the rest of his life. Many people believe that all dog fighting is underground or in low-income third world countries, but in reality Japan has dog fighting practiced in some smaller cities and in Afghanistan dog fighting is a pastime during the winter . It was actually the Taliban who removed dog fighting from Afghanistan until recently, when it started to become more prevalent in large cities like Kabul. PETA recently gave us a statistic about how “Every year, thousands of bulls are barbarically slaughtered in bullrings around the world.” .”(“Bullfighting”) Bullfighting is not a very large statistical collection compared to the rest of the things that are prevalent in the world, but by looking at Spain and Portugal you can see how and why this needs to be stopped. Spain and Portugal do not see this as a form of abuse due to bullfighting's long history in their culture. Bullfighting is classifiedsuch as when a bull enters an arena and men on horseback try to pierce the bulls with spears to ensure that the bull cannot lift its head and has significant blood loss. From here other people enter the arena and drive more spears into the bull as he begins to feel dizzy from blood loss and finally surrenders to his attackers. Eventually a matador enters the ring and kills the bull, sometimes missing and leaving the animal to suffer paralysis on the ground as it is dragged away by its horns. Most people believe that these bulls have a form of an opportunity to fight back and fend for themselves, but this is far from the truth. It is said that many bulls in these bullrings have shaved horns, Vaseline smeared in their eyes and are extremely weak from beatings. Even before these animals enter the ring they don't have the chance to defend themselves because they are in terrible condition. This also doesn't mention how the horses are treated. The horses are forced to constantly turn at full speed while being constantly spurred on. Most of the time they are charged and maimed by bulls trying to defend themselves. If the horse is not seriously injured it is forced to drag the bull's body out of the arena. Seal hunting is a concept that many people don't understand. It is when you find a seal and kill it, in most cases very inhumanely by hitting, clubbing and stabbing with large hooks only to be used as food and sometimes even for sport. This act has become illegal in many areas of the world as has the buying and selling of seal fur, but even some places such as Canada still allow the hunting of these animals. According to statistics found on Seal-world “It is estimated that every year more than 300,000 of them are senselessly slaughtered. It is also believed that the Canadian government is not paying attention to the quota limits in place. Instead, it continues to encourage people to kill everything they can and even offers cash rewards for those who are killed above quota.” (BioExpedition, “Seal Hunting”) Even with the pressure on Canada to change many of the laws, it has been very reluctant to cooperate with other countries by asking them to add protection. Animal testing is a large part of the cruelty discovered among creatures. According to the Humane Society, “it is estimated that more than 115 million animals are subjected to laboratory experiments worldwide every year.” (“Animal Use Statistics”) These tests are provided because they allow us to see what a particular product would do to a human if used. These tests have recently been deemed not useful due to differences between animals and humans. Zoosadism is the pleasure of being cruel to animals, it makes sense to discuss it in this form since the average cases of animal abuse would be the things everyone knows about, including neglect and beatings. Statistically speaking this is the biggest problem when it comes to animal cruelty. It is difficult to define a case of abuse worldwide, but it is estimated that the number of reported cases is close to 25 million animals abused worldwide. Not to mention the fact that 2/3 of the world's abused animal population goes unreported. This means that the number of animals in need worldwide is actually closer to 75 million than the recorded figure. Throughout history it has been culturally acceptable to be cruel and inhumane towards animals without any form of consequence. The first documented form of animal abuse is dog fighting, which occurred in the 12th century. The English used their dogs to fight as a sport for money and glory. As this became larger in Britain, they began tobreed real fighting dogs and export them to other countries to fight. The conditions of these farms worsened over time as did the sport. Through this sport many began to become even more barbaric, letting these bred dogs fight large animals such as wild boars and bulls. The main reason for this was the cultural mixing between nations. The Romans were known as warriors and fighters, they loved everything that was most barbaric. When the Romans arrived in England and noticed the strongest dogs they had. From England, dog fighting spread to other parts of Europe, reaching places such as Portugal and Norway. This is where the sport took off and not many rules have changed since then. While there may not be natural consequences to abusing an animal, it is still an important issue. Most of these forms of cruelty are illegal and considered too violent in America and Canada, but are still easily practiced in the shadow of criminal industries and gangs. Besides that, in a very civilized world, normal people consider it barbaric. Most consequences of animal cruelty are not great at all, given such a large problem. An example of this is the second largest dog fighting incident in America. This was the harshest penalty ever given to dog fighting ring leaders. These men had 367 live dogs, not including the dogs found dead in their yard and the hundreds brought in each day to fight. The range of these sentences was between two months and eight years for the recorded deaths of at least 640 dogs. The man who ran the dog fight was the one with the highest sentence of 8 years. The consequences that are in place don't really do much to discourage people from making trouble in the world of animal cruelty. Laws regarding animal cruelty are not enough to stop people. Recently in America we have been working to create consequences for people who commit these crimes. Fortunately, “the Farm Bill, signed into law earlier this year by President Obama, made it a federal crime to participate in organized animal fighting and also imposed additional penalties for involving a minor in fighting.” (Cronin, “FBI Case Results In Harshest Dog Fighting Penalty Ever”) This bill was passed on February 7, 2014, two years ago in a “very civilized nation.” People who learn these statistics normally feel compelled to do something to protect animals who can't defend themselves, others may not believe that some forms of abuse are actually considered abuse. Everyone will always have different feelings on the subject and you can't change the opinion of many people who don't believe this is a big deal problem. Every year animals are tortured countless times in laboratories, yet we believe it is necessary to do so. According to statistics found by the organization Dosomething, "Over 100 million animals are burned, paralyzed, poisoned and abused every year in US laboratories." (“Animal Facts”) As you learn more about this terrible situation, you end up realizing that animal testing doesn't even work that well. I say this because another statistic provided by the dosomething organization states that "92% of experimental drugs that are safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials because they are too dangerous or don't work." (“11 Facts About Animal Testing”) This means that we are subjecting our animals to testing, and 92% of these drugs that are safe or effective on animals still end up being too harmful for humans. 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