Animal Abuse and Its Role

Every day, an animal somewhere around the world is experiencing abuse. Abuse can come in the forms of verbal, physical or emotional abuse. As of 2013, a vast majority of the people in the around the world own or have owned a pet. There are approximately 75 million dogs and 80 million cats held as pets in homes experiencing abuse, as well as witnessing domestic violence every single day. It is rare to find someone who has been charged for animal abuse to only abuse the animal; most of the time it will be due to past cases of domestic violence. Domestic violence is the leading cause of animal abuse in the world today.

Many people may believe that they are as happy as can be with the person they thought they loved and trusted with everything. But one day, all it takes is a bit of anger and bam; you have entered an abusive relationship. Something you would have never in a million years believe would happen. When the abuser in the relationship gets upset with one little thing, he or she will begin to perform the act of domestic violence on their loved ones. If there is a pet in the home while domestic violence is occurring, they may end up in the crossfire of the two while they are in an argument which will then scare the pet. The pet will feel less comfortable if they are experiencing abuse. They will tend to run, hide, and show fear when spotted. While the abuser then begins to adopt these actions to their everyday life, there will be a day where the person they abuse will not be there when they are angry. When the abuser needs to take his anger out in the form of abuse and the person they abuse are not there, they will then go to the next loved one which is the pet. An abusive relationship containing domestic violence will most likely then lead to abuse towards the family pet.

When a woman is getting tired of being in a relationship with her boyfriend or things just aren’t working out, the girl will tend to leave the relationship. Of course after a break up the man will be upset but nobody should ever take their anger out in violence. Sometimes in a break up the pet the couple have owned will end up staying with the man because the girl doesn’t want to stay with the man anymore and just wants to be away from him. In this case, The male will try and threaten the ex-girlfriend with abusing the animal. He will do this to try and make her come back to him. Also, he will do this to show his power towards her and that he will do whatever it takes to have his happiness back.

Many people believe that animal abuse is when an abuser hits their pet. It is not, There are many types of animal abuse; Torment, neglect, threats to safety, sexual or emotional abuse, and Physical violence. Neglect is the most common form of abuse, even when a person may not think their animal is being abused, if they are not showing it any attention, leaving it in the cage all day or chained up outside is neglect. When an animal is being neglected, it will react to it, the pet will show his or her emotion to the abuse they have experienced. The pet will show fear when a human comes around due to the fact that they’re not used to getting attention and when they do get attention, they don’t know how to react to the humans. Sometimes the form of neglect can get so bad to the point where the owner will abandon their pet. When a pet is abandoned and now has to live on the street. While living on the street it will have no supervision, it will begin to find other animals of their kind to breed with and will do nearly anything to find somewhere to live and or something to eat. Animals living on the streets will get injured in some way, the abandoned animal will have no way to be seen by a veterinarian in serious situations. This may cause serious illness or even death as the injury may cause an infection in the pet that is not treatable.

Neglect is not always caused by someone not caring about the pet anymore. This is not always the case, neglect is often considered not feeding or giving the needs necessary for it to live a decent life. The needs the pet may need are visits to the vet, a sanitary shelter to live in, and protection from certain weather conditions. It is not always that the owner of the pet dislikes the animal anymore, some people may not be able to care for the pet anymore. For example, when a person is not stable enough to care or give their pet attention, they will begin to not notice their pet. They may not think of this as abuse because most people see abuse as physical violence. When someone is not stable enough to give their pet attention, they will not realize it. As long as the pet is alive, they will think it is okay and that it doesn’t need to be rehomed because they have at one point cared for the pet for months or even years and don’t want to see that pet be given up because they will miss it.

There have been many laws added due to the acts of abuse. Not all 50 states have the same laws, Although some states have more serious laws, At least 13 of the 50 states have laws that are allowing their courts to include pets in temporary restraining orders in domestic violence situations. There are states that enforce counseling supervision for committing the act of animal abuse, this will then place the criminal in psychological counseling. Many people who have been involved with dog fighting also have prior arrests for gun charges, gun violations, and gang affiliation. In many 32 of the 50 states, if you have a restraining order against someone, the restraining order will be applied to the animal as well.

People will abuse animals for various reasons. One reason someone will abuse an animal is that people will see the pet as a prize possession, or in other words their moneymaker. Gang members will neglect their pet by leaving it on the chain, showing it no attention, or just treating it immensely abysmally so the pet will show aggression trying to defend itself. The main reason that an abuser will do this to train the dog to fight other dogs for money as the outcome. The result of the fight may end up seriously injuring one of the dogs or even getting one of the dog’s pets, But if the abuser is willing to treat the dog the way they did, they will do it again. Dog fighting is some plays a huge role in some peoples life. They do this because it is easy to do, and if they don’t get caught they can make some serious money.

A lot of people will go to their pets as comfort when they are upset with something. When someone sees this, they may take advantage of it. Abusers often kill the family pet, so the person they are threatening will lose a source of comfort and support. Not only will someone kill a pet just so someone loses a source of comfort, but an abuser will also commit abuse is to show their power and control that they have over someone. A 2012 study found that 59% of abused women delayed leaving the home out of fear of leaving their pets behind.

Abusers will show their power and control over a victim by abusing their comfort, which is their pet. Animal abuse could be used to hush someone, prevent someone from leaving the situation, or to force someone to return to them. Most of the time when someone threatens a woman to hurt a pet and actually follows through with their word, they are doing this to show the victim that they are serious of what they say and that they are not afraid to do the same to them if they leave.

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