Animal Cruelty
The debate over animal cruelty and animal rights has become more popular and well known over the years, with the public’s interest growing for animals’ wellbeing. For thousands of years animals have been used for food, entertainment, and sport (Clemmitt). But are the animals being harmed when they’re used for entertainment or gaming? Some say that animals are harmed during these activities and others say that they aren’t harmed and they’re just doing what they were born to do. Using animals for entertainment or gaming should be discouraged and even illegal because it is animal cruelty and puts physical strain on the animals, the animals are taken from their natural habitat, and are harmed and abused.
Since the beginning of time animals have been used for people’s benefit and used for food, entertainment and sporting. Many people believe that the animals involved in entertainment and used for sport are not harmed and are only doing what they were born to do. There has been debate on whether horses in horse racing are harmed and if training and racing them is cruel. Animal cruelty is the infliction of suffering or abuse of animals for reasons other than defense. Some say that since horses love to run, they’re just doing what they love to do (Lubrano). So not only are the horses doing what they love to do, but what they’re doing makes some people happy too. One of the main problems that people have with horse racing is that places used to gives horses to the slaughter after they couldn’t race anymore. Most people don’t have problems with the racing of the horses itself especially since the horse racing industry is against giving horses to the slaughter (Lubrano). Horse racing is very similar to the Greyhound racing. Greyhound racing tracks have started to close down in a lot of states due to voters thinking that it’s cruel. But since the tracks have closed down hundreds of people have lost their jobs, the greyhounds don’t have places to stay, and some people lost their hobby. There are only about 30 Greyhound racing tracks left nationwide, which is a large decrease compared to the 55 tracks that were around in the 1990s (Tucker). People who are a part of the animal racing industry claim that animals involved with entertainment and sporting are not harmed and do not suffer so there is no animal cruelty involved and in most cases the animals are treated very well.
“When it comes to hunger, thirst or suffering, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.” (Masci) On a basic level, animals and humans are the same so they deserve the same treatment and basic rights (Masci). Harming animals in any way is unethical and unmoral. Horse racing and Greyhound racing is animal abuse just for the entertainment of humans (Animal). Most of the people that go to watch horse and greyhound racing just go for the betting and gambling aspect. Very few people that go to the races are actually concerned with the well being of the animals (Animals). While some of the top horses and dogs might be well cared for, most of the horses and dogs are not (Animal). Trainers have been reported to use whips, drugs, and electrical stimuli to make the animal do better in the race. During both flat and jump horse races there is a very high chance of falls and fractures. Once a horse is no longer able to race it is “disposed” of, but if a horse gets lucky the horse might go to a home where it finally gets treated the way it’s supposed to (Animal). All the racing the horses have to endure can cause a lot of stress on their bones and body. The speed and rate that the horses move can hurt their bodies; “…a horse's leg bones can actually deform, and keep deforming until they or the ligaments or tendons eventually fail.” (Lubrano) In a sense horse racing is a sport that slowly kills the horse. Also in horse racing owners will breed horses to get a perfect horse that will win. But the breeding has negative side effects.
Specialized breeding has made the racehorse vulnerable to leg fractures. [They’re] bred to be thin-boned to help make them break quickly out of the starting gate, thoroughbreds look quite different than their untampered-with cousins, the mustangs who run wild in the West (Lubrano).
Horse racing is cruelty to the horses purely for human entertainment.
There are many cases where animals used for entertainment are subject to animal cruelty and are harmed. One case is the Ringling Brother’s Circus animals. In 2009 it was reported that employees for the circus were caught using bullhooks to get the elephants to do tricks and whips on tigers and other animals. A bullhook looks like a fireplace poker that has a sharp metal hook on the end. Employees use the bullhook by digging the sharp hook part of it into the sensitive parts of the elephants skin such as behind the knees and under their trunks (Newkirk). One of the elephants in the Ringling Brother’s circus showed signs of psychological suffering but was nonetheless forced to perform anyways (Newkirk). Circuses frequently get away with abusing the animals because no one sees the “behind-the-scenes training and handling session,” they try really hard to conceal any abuse from the audience. Employees even go so far as to cover up the wounds from the abuse. “Former Ringling employees report that a gray powder called Wonder Dust is used to conceal bloody bullhook wounds. When placed on fresh cuts and punctures, Wonder Dust closely matches the elephant's own skin color.” (Newkirk) Trainers were also caught using more than just bullhooks; they were caught using whips, sticks and electric-shock prods to inflict pain and scare animals into doing what the trainers want them to do. When the circus travels the animals are cooped up in small spaces instead of out in the savannah and jungle where they can roam and be free. Sometimes the animals are chained up for up to 100 hours in a small cage. If the animals are chained up for so long then they are susceptible to getting a foot disorder or arthritis (Newkirk). These animals don’t deserve to be treated this way. Animals shouldn’t be beaten and tortured until they’re so scared that they’re forced to perform.
People claim that zoos are “arks” that help to save animals and keep them from extinction (Animal). People involved in zoos also claim that they can help rebuild a species and keep them from becoming extinct. But sometimes it’s hard to have a big enough gene pool to keep the species going. If the gene pool isn’t big enough then “inbreeding can result in increased susceptibility to disease, birth defects, and mutations; the species can be so weakened that it would never be viable in the wild” (Animal). There are also some animals that are harder than others to breed in captivity. Many marine mammals and bird species are hard to breed in captivity (Animal). Animals in zoos are denied the movement and freedom that they would have in the wild and what they deserve. People involved with zoos argue that they are preserving the species and that they’ll be released into the wild eventually. But most of the animals held in captivity would never survive in the wild.
Circus animals suffer similar mental and physical problems to zoo animals, displaying stereotypical behavior...Physical symptoms include shackle sores, herpes, liver failure, kidney disease, and sometimes death...Many of the animals become both physically and mentally ill. (Animal)
Animals in zoos are often kept in small spaces and cages. And animals’ natural behavior and instincts decrease because being in a zoo suppresses their natural behavior and instincts. People also argue that people can become educated by seeing wild animals in the zoo. But because animals suppress their natural behaviors and instincts in zoos then the animals in the zoo aren’t wild. Having the animals in small spaces where they aren’t free and where they are both physically and mentally harmed is wrong and isn’t fair to the animals. After all, “all good things are wild, and free” (Animal).
Animals are taken from their natural habitat and forced to perform for the entertainment of humans. People love to go to SeaWorld where they can see all the animals and swim with the dolphins. But we don’t get to see what happens behind the scenes when the dolphins are being trained. It was recently stated that
The cognitive capacity of dolphins is second only to that of humans and that the brain cortex of dolphins has the same complicated folds associated with human intelligence…dolphins should be given the same moral standing as humans…dolphins have distinct personalities, can recognize themselves in mirrors and can think about the future (O’Connor).
Yet if dolphins are so close to humans mentally then why are they still captured from the wild and forced to perform. When an animal is taken from its natural habitat it goes from an ocean to gallons and they become interchangeable. SeaWorld has the most captive bottle noise dolphins and orcas in the United States. And they are constantly replacing them with others because they usually die prematurely. (O’Connor) Over the years SeaWorld has had 50 different orca whales that were named Shamu (O’Connor). Animals living in marine life have a very high mortality rate because their water gets contaminated; they swallow key chains, sunglasses and rocks that are thrown in the tank (O’Connor). But one of the things that the marine entertainment industry doesn’t let people know is that “buying a ticket to a marine theme park helps support the slaughter of dolphins in the wild.” (O’Connor). So when people go to an aquarium or marine theme park they are actually funding the slaughter of dolphins. When a person goes to Sea World they fund the slaughter of dolphins because when the dolphins are taken from their habitat they die prematurely. Animals shouldn’t be abused and harmed just for people’s entertainment, they should be able to live in their natural habitat where they are free of the animal cruelty caused by aquariums and marine theme parks.
To some people animals are seen as nothing more than objects and tools that people can make money off of. Some of these animals have to live long and tortured lives where they are forced against their wills to perform for entertainment or sport. Animals shouldn’t be used for our entertainment at the expense of their own health and well being. A person would think that with all the technology and new findings that some animals are very closely related to humans that they would not be treated the way some of them are. Animals shouldn’t be used for the entertainment of people because it is cruel to the animals and isn’t right; they are put under physical strain, abused and are taken out of their natural habitat.
Bibliography
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<http://www.animal-rights.com/arsec9q.htm>.
Clemmitt, Marcia. "Animal Rights." CQ Researcher 20.1 (2010): 1-24. CQ Researcher. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2010010800>.
Lubrano, Alfred. "Horse Racing Is Still Saddled by Cruelty Issue." Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA). 27 May 2006: A1+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 11 Nov 2010.
Masci, David. "Fighting Over Animal Rights." CQ Researcher 6.29 (1996): 673-696. CQ Research. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.<http://library.cqpress.com/cqresrree1996080200>.
Newkirk, Ingrid E. "Ringling Bros. Circus: Animals' Guantanamo." People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. 27 Jul 2009: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 11 Nov 2010.
O'Connor, Jennifer. "Dolphins in Tanks: Cruel Confinement." People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals. 18 Jan 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 15 Nov 2010.
Tucker, Eric. "RI Bucks Trend, Fights to Keep Greyhound Racing." The Call (Woonsocket, RI).
12 Jul 2009: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 11 Nov 2010.
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