The prevention of cruelty to animals

It is shocking to know that the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Ontario SPCA) receives approximately 16000 animal cruelty complaints every year. The number of animal cruelty cases have been steadily increasing across Ontario, which is indeed heartbreaking to know. Animal cruelty is the negligence or harm done to the animal by humans, causing the animal pain, suffering, and extreme agony. It is a pressing local issue that is still rampant in the Windsor area. People worldwide condemn the action of cruelty to animals as it is a severe and disgusting violation of humanity. As global citizens, we are ashamed of the animal abusers and eagerly want to them to receive the punishments they deserve. Apart from violating the fundamental moral sense of right and wrong, animal cruelty is entirely against our Catholic values. God calls us to be loving, faithful, and generous individuals. We are expected to follow Jesus’ nonviolence rule and be compassionate disciples of our Father in Heaven. However, animal abusers are the ones God strongly criticizes. The act of animal cruelty opposes two of the central Catholic social teaching pillars, which are rights and responsibilities, and care for God’s creation. As a Catholic, I feel sorrowful and outrageous for the abusers’ ruthless behaviours and wish to make amendments to help the innocent lives of the suffering animals.

To begin, let us examine the principal causes of the issue of animal cruelty. Animal cruelty generally consists of two types of reasons, which are careless negligence and deliberate harm. The milder one is the owner’s negligence, meaning the owner does not care enough about his pet or he does not understand the needs of it. In this case, the animal is often neglected and isolated by the owner. Signs of this form of cruelty may include some details such as that the collar is too tight or the animal body is unclean. For instance, when you walk on a street and find that a dog’s collar is too tight. It is probably because the owner does not pay attention to it and does not increase the size of the collar during the dog’s growth. You might think that it is just a minor problem and should not bother interfering with it. But it can be very critical. The too tight collar can injure and strangulate the dog, possibly leading to death. The owner’s carelessness is sometimes fatal. Another example is when the animal lacks cleaning.

Apparent hints include long hair and a thick layer of fur, indicating that the owner has not groomed his pet for a long time. In this case, the pet can get parasites all over it and ends up becoming ill due to various diseases associated with the parasites. In the scenarios of the owner’s negligence, what we can do is to warn them of the situation and provide the suggestions. However, for the more severe case when the owner intentionally abuses the pet, we should react differently. Signs of deliberate abuse may involve that the pet is disproportionately small or the animal is extraordinarily aggressive. If a pet is remarkably disproportionately undersized, it is highly likely that it suffers from malnutrition. The owner abuses it by starvation, providing it with insufficient or improper food. Also, the owner might leave the sick pet intentionally untreated.

Additionally, for example, when you see an animal being extraordinarily aggressive, then chances are its owner mistreats it. Most animals are not naturally aggressive. But abused animals fear human beings a lot and therefore are more likely to attack even strangers by howling and biting. If you observe this situation on the street, do not try to rescue the pet yourself as the owner is abusive and the environment is unsafe. In this kind of scenario, the best approach is to report to the local humane organization and clearly state the circumstance.