stop animal cruelty essay

Talk to our experts

1800-120-456-456

• Cruelty to Animals Essay

Introduction

Our planet Earth is a very beautiful place. Here, all the living organisms are dependent on each other and live together. We, humans, are considered as the most intelligent species on Earth. But, we sometimes become very insensitive to the creatures who cannot express themselves, especially the animals. We harm them just to fulfill our needs. We have an essay here on cruelty towards animals which will cover the questions like - write an article on cruelty towards animals, cruelty towards animals paragraph, paragraph on stop cruelty towards animals, article on cruelty towards animals class 9 and so on.

Long Paragraph on Cruelty to Animals

Animals, just like human beings, deserve a peaceful life. Animals are an important part of our ecosystem and are very useful to us. But, we sometimes forget that they are also living creatures. We keep on harassing them and these poor creatures can't even express their feelings and grief. Cruelty towards animals have become an international matter of concern. This needs to be addressed as soon as possible and should be eliminated for ever.

We become cruel towards animals for two reasons - one to fulfill our needs and other for fun. We use animals for their fur, their skin, their meat, their teeth and horns too. Sometimes, we apply colours on them which harm their skin, we also burn crackers without thinking about them. Sometimes , the tea-shop keeper pours the hot water on the street dogs, which is a great example of cruel behaviour towards the animals.

The animal skins are used in textile industries. Their skin and body hairs are used to make exotic fabrics for us to use. Animal’s teeth, horns, skin and fur are used to make home decor items which we beautifully use to decorate our homes without thinking how much pain animals go through for giving us these luxuries.

Another industry that contributes in cruelty to animals is the cosmetic industry. Whenever we buy any cosmetic products, we always make sure that the product is safe on our skin. But, we hardly realise that these products are tested on animals before it reaches us. The chemicals are often injected in animal’s bodies or applied on their skin. Sometimes, these are tested on their eyes too. And if the test fails, it sometimes leads to the animal's death also. These tests cause itching and burning too. But,we the human beings, keep on torturing the animals for our own purposes.

Our progressing medical science also has a big role in harassing the animals and showing our cruelty towards them. For the trials of medicines, animals are selected. They are then injected with the trial medicines without thinking about their pain. They are often kept in freezing temperatures for the experiments. We also ill treat the animals at zoos and circuses. The place where they are kept is not cleaned often. Also, the feeding methods are not too hygienic. These result in various diseases and often to their death.

Many animals and birds, in the name of pets, are being sold everyday. These animals are kept in cages or are kept tied with a chain. Most often, they are beaten up. The street dogs are often beaten up by the shopkeepers if they are found roaming around. Many cows are found roaming around the garbage heaps finding food. Many times many animals are hit by the fast moving traffic. These all are the examples of cruelty towards animals.

But now it's enough! We, the human beings, who are considered as the most intelligent creatures on Earth have to stop playing with these poor creatures' lives. We have to raise our voice and stop being cruel to the animals. We have to bring new strong laws to protect the animals. Every school should teach students how to respect and protect our fellow creatures - animals. Parents themselves should treat the animals with respect and love and should teach their wards the same.

We should always keep one thing in mind that we cannot survive without animals. Everything on Earth has its own purpose. The animals help in balancing our ecosystem. We have to take a call and save our environment, our mother Earth and our animals.

Short Paragraph on Stop Cruelty Towards Animals

Cruelty means a behaviour that harms others physically or mentally. But it's a matter of shame that we only consider human beings when it comes to cruelty. We forget that animals are also living creatures and we should not be cruel to them. Just because these creatures can not express themselves as we do, we forget that what we are doing to them if someone does to us, we will die.

Human industries that contribute to this cruelty are - Textile, Cosmetics, Home Decor and many more. Animal skins and furs are used in textile industries, animal skin, fur, horns and teeths are used to make home decor items. Many animals are killed for their meat also. Animals are ill-treated in laboratories where they are used for testing and experiments. They are often kept in freezing conditions or in boiling conditions.

It is high time now that we stop abusing these poor animals. They are also living beings and are very very important to us as without them the whole ecosystem will disbalance. We should raise awareness and stop these cruelties against animals.

Conclusion:

Cruelty to animals has become a nationwide problem nowadays. The government has already imposed a few laws and a few more are needed. Along with that, social awareness is also required. Students should learn how to treat animals in schools. Parents should also treat their pets well and teach their children. Our planet Earth is a very beautiful place. Here, all the living organisms are dependent on each other and live together. We, humans, are considered the most intelligent species on Earth. But, we sometimes become very insensitive to the creatures who cannot express themselves, especially the animals. We harm them just to fulfil our needs.

We have an essay here on cruelty towards animals which will cover the questions like - write an article on cruelty towards animals, cruelty towards animals paragraph, paragraph on stop cruelty towards animals, article on cruelty towards animals class 9 and so on.

To access these study materials, students will just have to complete this simple process:

Click on the download link provided on Vedantu's website for these study materials

Sign in with Gmail Id

Download the study material and start reaping the utmost benefits of it.

Students can also use Vedantu's mobile application. This mobile application is created by Vedantu to cater to students' needs of convenience and a better user experience. The mobile app is created by top-level app developers. Students who are using this app will not experience any inconvenience. All of these study materials are available on the app for free. Students can also find Vedantu's higher-level study materials like one to one coaching, video lectures, etc. 

This essay on cruelty to animals is created by experts working with Vedantu. These experts have a ton of experience in their particular fields. That's why these experts are hired by Vedantu to provide students with the highest quality of study materials. The experts who wrote this essay on cruelty to animals have a lot of experience and background in this topic. They have taken their time and written this and many other essays for students to use any time and access from anywhere. Just because these essays are created by experts, the chance of these essays scoring full marks in any test or examination is pretty high. 

Students can read this essay right now and can get ready for any tests or exams on it with confidence.

FAQs on Cruelty to Animals Essay

1. List Some Animal Protection Laws.

Here are a few laws and acts to prevent animals:

• Article 51A(g) - It states that it is the fundamental duty of every citizen to be compassionate towards other living creatures.
• IPC Section 428 & 429 - Killing animals is a punishable offence.
• Section 11 (1)(i) & Section 11(1)(j), PCA Act, 1960 - Abandoning animals can lead to a prison of upto three months.
• Monkeys have been protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• Section 22(ii), PCA Act, 1960 - Animals such as Monkeys, Tigers, Bears, Lions, Panthers, Bull can not be trained and can not be used for entertainment purposes.

2. How do we Use Animal Teeth and Horns?

We use animal teeth and horns to make decorative pieces with which we decorate our home and offices. These decorative items are truly expensive for nature and its habitats. The most common example of animal cruelty is hunting. Animals are hunted for their meat, bones, leather or any other precious body parts. This can cause the species to be endangered or even go extinct. Another example of animal cruelty is enslaving them for entertainment or hard work. There are a lot of examples of animals being cruelty trained in circuses, kept as prisoners in zoos, or used as labourers to get the hardest jobs done.

3. What is meant by cruelty to animals?

Animal cruelty is defined as harming animals by either subjecting them to slavery, product-testing, or hunting. Killing endangered species for their meat, bones, or leather also comes under animal cruelty and is a punishable offence. The government of India has passed a lot of laws that prevent cruelty to animals from happening on a large scale. But still, in some neglected places like undeveloped villages, slums, or forests, these activities are followed illegally. And the government and some big governing bodies like PETA are working hard towards eradicating any kind of animal cruelty.

4. How does cruelty affect animals?

Cruelty towards animals can be dangerous for their overall species. There are a lot of examples like dodos, sabre tooth tigers, etc that have gone extinct because of excessive hunting. It is also morally incorrect to torture any living thing to die for the sake of an experiment. That's why animal testing is also banned. Animal testing is another example of animal cruelty and can hurt animals and even cruelly kill them. Animal cruelty should be banned completely.

5. How can we prevent animal cruelty?

There are very clear action steps to take to prevent animal cruelty. We can be responsible pet owners and start showing love and affection towards the animals at our home. We can adopt or at least hand over the abandoned baby animals we find on the streets to animal care centres. We can prohibit the use of animal-tested cosmetics or any products. We can even file a complaint against anyone who is abusing stray animals or harming them.

• Essay On Cruelty To Animals

Cruelty to Animals Essay

500+ words essay on cruelty to animals.

Each creature born on this planet is gifted the same resources by nature. We breathe the same air and live under the same sky. However, human beings claim to govern and command the lives of other creatures. They exploit the lives of other animals to satisfy their worldly desires. These animals are killed, maimed, poached and trafficked in brutal ways. Occasionally, they are subjected to cultural rituals and sacrificed in the name of God. Sometimes animals are butchered in horrific ways for their skins and meats. So, these all are examples of animal cruelty which results in malicious killing or repeated torturing of animals. With the help of this essay on animal cruelty, students will learn how animals are tortured and what steps can be taken to prevent the animal cruelty. Also, they can go through the list of CBSE Essay topics to boost their writing skills.

Different Forms of Animal Cruelty

It is sad to hear the news related to the animal cruelty on television or in the newspaper. The seriousness and dangerousness of animal cruelty go unnoticed in today’s fast-moving world. Animal cruelty is defined as a crime involving the infliction of pain, suffering, or death to an animal. Animal neglect can include withholding of food, water and shelter. As a result of which the animal has suffered, died, or been placed in imminent danger of death. In short, anything that is done to mistreat an animal is considered as an act of animal cruelty. People who engage in animal cruelty are monsters.

Year after year, millions of animals become subjects to bestial, barbaric and outdated test methods and experimentation. They undergo immense suffering and pain to fulfil the human desire of selfishness. The testing becomes extremely hazardous, which results in killing the innocent animals. Animals are put into zoos for human entertainment. Animals are shifted from their natural habitats by stripping them off of their ‘wildness’ and are caged into zoos. They are being subjected to humans’ social media photographs and ‘pets’ to play with them. The wild animals all across the globe face cruelty. They’ve been threatened through harassment, habitat degradation, encroachment and destruction, cruel hunting, poaching and trapping, capture and killing for profit, incidental poisoning and vehicle strikes, and culling. Even in this age of technology, many religious and cultural beliefs uphold animal abuse as a glorious fragment of their festivities.

Measure to Stop Animal Cruelty

Animal protection and welfare is enshrined as a fundamental duty in the Indian Constitution. The laws not only prohibit any threats to the animals but also punish, in case of its exertion. The Government has implemented the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. It is an act to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals and, for that purpose, to amend the law relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals that extends to the whole nation except the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, the Government has made the Wildlife Protection Act, which is an umbrella act to protect the wild species, animals, birds and plants, and establish ecologically important protected areas. Also, there are many other initiatives taken by the Government to save and prevent the animals.

In our society, animal cruelty has existed from a long time, but now is the time to stop it. We must strive to improve our animal cruelty laws, train law enforcement and prosecutors so they can enforce the laws that do exist. We must educate the public to change their perspective and sensibilities about animal cruelty. We have to become advocates for our animals. Because animals cannot speak for themselves, it’s up to the public to speak for them and report animal abuse. It’s up to law enforcement and prosecutors to bring these criminals to justice and up to our courts to aggressively penalise these abusers!Students must have found this “Essay on Cruelty to Animals” helpful in improving their essay writing skills. They can get the study material and latest updates on CBSE/ICSE/State Board/Competitive Exams at BYJU’S.

Frequently asked Questions on Cruelty to animals Essay

What is animal cruelty.

Inflicting harm, injuring or any deed that causes the death of an animal is known to be a form of animal cruelty.

What are the measures taken by our Indian Government to control the cruelty caused to animals?

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860 covers all the illegal and criminal offenses against animals.

How to reduce the cruelty caused to animals?

To reduce cruelty caused to animals, avoid purchasing items made from animals/animal products and create awareness about the importance of animals. You can also complain about poaching or any illegal animal-related activities if found.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Request OTP on Voice Call

Post My Comment

• Share Share

Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs

Register with byju's & watch live videos.

Counselling

Find anything you save across the site in your account

What Would It Mean to Treat Animals Fairly?

By Elizabeth Barber

A few years ago, activists walked into a factory farm in Utah and walked out with two piglets. State prosecutors argued that this was a crime. That they were correct was obvious: The pigs were the property of Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the country. The defendants had videoed themselves committing the crime; the F.B.I. later found the piglets in Colorado, in an animal sanctuary.

The activists said they had completed a “rescue,” but Smithfield had good reason to claim it hadn’t treated the pigs illegally. Unlike domestic favorites like dogs, which are protected from being eaten, Utah’s pigs are legally classified as “livestock”; they’re future products, and Smithfield could treat them accordingly. Namely, it could slaughter the pigs, but it could also treat a pig’s life—and its temporary desire for food, space, and medical help—as an inconvenience, to be handled in whatever conditions were deemed sufficient.

In their video, the activists surveyed those conditions . At the facility—a concentrated animal-feeding operation, or CAFO —pregnant pigs were confined to gestation crates, metal enclosures so small that the sows could barely lie down. (Smithfield had promised to stop using these crates, but evidently had not.) Other pigs were in farrowing crates, where they had enough room to lie down but not enough to turn their bodies around. When the activists approached one sow, they found dead piglets rotting beneath her. Nearby, they found two injured piglets, whom they decided to take. One couldn’t walk because of a foot infection; the other’s face was covered in blood. According to Smithfield, which denied mistreating animals, the piglets were each worth about forty-two dollars, but both had diarrhea and other signs of illness. This meant they were unlikely to survive, and that their bodies would be discarded, just as millions of farm animals are discarded each year.

During the trial, the activists reiterated that, yes, they entered Smithfield’s property and, yes, they took the pigs. And then, last October, the jury found them not guilty. In a column for the Times , one of the activists—Wayne Hsiung, the co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere—described talking to one of the jurors, who said that it was hard to convict the activists of theft, given that the sick piglets had no value for Smithfield. But another factor was the activists’ appeal to conscience. In his closing statement, Hsiung, a lawyer who represented himself, argued that an acquittal would model a new, more compassionate world. He had broken the law, yes—but the law, the jury seemed to agree, might be wrong.

A lot has changed in our relationship with animals since 1975, when the philosopher Peter Singer wrote “ Animal Liberation ,” the book that sparked the animal-rights movement. Gestation crates, like the ones in Utah, are restricted in the European Union, and California prohibits companies that use them from selling in stores, a case that the pork industry fought all the way to the Supreme Court—and lost. In a 2019 Johns Hopkins survey, more than forty per cent of respondents wanted to ban new CAFO s. In Iowa, which is the No. 1 pork-producing state, my local grocery store has a full Vegan section. “Vegan” is also a shopping filter on Sephora, and most of the cool-girl brands are vegan, anyway. Wearing fur is embarrassing.

And yet Singer’s latest book, “ Animal Liberation Now ,” a rewrite of his 1975 classic, is less a celebratory volume than a tragic one—tragic because it is very similar to the original in refrain, which is that, big-picture-wise, the state of animal life is terrible. “The core argument I was putting forward,” Singer writes, “seemed so irrefutable, so undeniably right, that I thought everyone who read it would surely be convinced by it.” Apparently not. By some estimates, scientists in the U.S. currently use roughly fifteen million animals for research, including mice, rats, cats, dogs, birds, and nonhuman primates. As in the seventies, much of this research tries to model psychological ailments, despite scientists’ having written for decades that more research is needed to figure out whether animals—and which kind of animals—provide a useful analogue for mental illness in humans. When Singer was first writing, a leading researcher created psychopathic monkeys by raising them in isolation, impregnating them with what he called a “rape rack,” and studying how the mothers bashed their infants’ heads into the ground. In 2019, researchers were still putting animals through “prolonged stress”—trapping them in deep water, restraining them for long periods while subjecting them to the odor of a predator—to see if their subsequent behavior evidenced P.T.S.D. (They wrote that more research was needed.) Meanwhile, factory farms, which were newish in 1975, have swept the globe. Just four per cent of Americans are vegetarian, and each year about eighty-three billion animals are killed for food.

It’s for these animals, Singer writes, “and for all the others who will, unless there is a sudden and radical change, suffer and die,” that he writes this new edition. But Singer’s hopes are by now tempered. One obvious problem is that, in the past fifty years, the legal standing of animals has barely changed. The Utah case was unusual not just because of the verdict but because referendums on farm-animal welfare seldom occur at all. In many states, lawmakers, often pressured by agribusiness, have tried to make it a serious crime to enter a factory farm’s property. The activists in Utah hoped they could win converts at trial; they gambled correctly, but, had they been wrong, they could have gone to prison. As in 1975, it remains impossible to simply petition the justice system to notice that pigs are suffering. All animals are property, and property can’t take its owner to court.

Philosophers have debated the standing of animals for centuries. Pythagoras supposedly didn’t eat them, perhaps because he believed they had souls. Their demotion to “things” owes partly to thinkers like Aristotle, who called animals “brute beasts” who exist “for the sake of man,” and to Christianity, which, like Stoicism before it, awarded unique dignity to humans. We had souls; animals did not. Since then, various secular thinkers have given this idea a new name—“inherent value,” “intrinsic dignity”—in order to explain why it is O.K. to eat a pig but not a baby. For Singer, these phrases are a “last resort,” a way to clumsily distinguish humans from nonhuman animals. Some argue that our ability to tell right from wrong, or to perceive ourselves, sets us apart—but not all humans can do these things, and some animals seem to do them better. Good law doesn’t withhold justice from humans who are elderly or infirm, or those who are cognitively disabled. As a utilitarian, Singer cites the founder of that tradition, the eighteenth-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who argued that justice and equality have nothing to do with a creature’s ability to reason, or with any of its abilities at all, but with the fact that it can suffer. Most animals suffer. Why, then, do we not give them moral consideration?

Singer’s answer is “speciesism,” or “bias in favor of the interests of members of one’s own species.” Like racism and sexism, speciesism denies equal consideration in order to maintain a status quo that is convenient for the oppressors. As Lawrence Wright has written in this magazine , courts, when considering the confinement of elephants and chimpanzees, have conceded that such animals evince many of the qualities that give humans legal standing, but have declined to follow through on the implications of this fact. The reason for that is obvious. If animals deserved the same consideration as humans, then we would find ourselves in a world in which billions of persons were living awful, almost unimaginably horrible lives. In which case, we might have to do something about it.

Equal consideration does not mean equal treatment. As a utilitarian, Singer’s aim is to minimize the suffering in the world and maximize the pleasure in it, a principle that invites, and often demands, choices. This is why Singer does not object to killing mosquitos (if done quickly), or to using animals for scientific research that would dramatically relieve suffering, or to eating meat if doing so would save your life. What he would not agree with, though, is making those choices on the basis of perceived intelligence or emotion. In a decision about whether to eat chicken or pork, it is not better to choose chicken simply because pigs seem smarter. The fleeting pleasure of eating any chicken is trounced by its suffering in industrial farms, where it was likely force-fed, electrocuted, and perhaps even boiled alive.

Still, Singer’s emphasis on suffering is cause for concern to Martha Nussbaum , whose new book, “ Justice for Animals ,” is an attempt to settle on the ideal philosophical template for animal rights. Whereas Singer’s argument is emphatically emotion-free—empathy, in his view, is not just immaterial but often actively misleading—Nussbaum is interested in emotions, or at least in animals’ inner lives and desires. She considers several theories of animal rights, including Singer’s, before arguing that we should adopt her “capabilities approach,” which builds on a framework developed by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, and holds that all creatures should be given the “opportunity to flourish.” For decades, Nussbaum has adjusted her list of what this entails for humans, which includes “being able to live to the end of a human life of normal length,” “being able to have attachments to things and people outside ourselves,” and having “bodily integrity”—namely, freedom from violence and “choice in matters of reproduction.” In “Justice for Animals,” she outlines some conditions for nonhuman flourishing: a natural life span, social relationships, freedom of movement, bodily integrity, and play and stimulation. Eventually, she writes, we would have a refined list for each species, so that we could insure flourishing “in the form of life characteristic to the creature.”

In imagining this better world, Nussbaum is guided by three emotions: wonder, anger, and compassion. She wants us to look anew at animals such as chickens or pigs, which don’t flatter us, as gorillas might, with their resemblance to us. What pigs do, and like to do, is root around in the dirt; lacquer themselves in mud to keep cool; build comfy nests in which to shelter their babies; and communicate with one another in social groups. They also seek out belly rubs from human caregivers. In a just world, Nussbaum writes, we would wonder at a pig’s mysterious life, show compassion for her desire to exist on her own terms, and get angry when corporations get in her way.

Some of Nussbaum’s positions are more actionable, policy-wise, than others. For example, she supports legal standing for animals, which raises an obvious question: How would a pig articulate her desires to a lawyer? Nussbaum notes that a solution already exists in fiduciary law: in the event that a person, like a toddler or disabled adult, cannot communicate their decisions or make sound ones, a representative is appointed to understand that person’s interests and advocate for them. Just as organizations exist to help certain people advance their interests, organizations could represent categories of animals. In Nussbaum’s future world, such a group could take Smithfield Foods to court.

Perhaps Nussbaum’s boldest position is that wild animals should also be represented by fiduciaries, and indeed be assured, by humans, the same flourishing as any other creature. If this seems like an overreach, a quixotic attempt to control a world that is better off without our meddling, Nussbaum says, first, to be realistic: there is no such thing as a truly wild animal, given the extent of human influence on Earth. (If a whale is found dead with a brick of plastic in its stomach, how “wild” was it?) Second, in Nussbaum’s view, if nature is thoughtless—and Nussbaum thinks it is—then perhaps what happens in “the wild” is not always for the best. No injustice can be ignored. If we aspire to a world in which no sentient creature can harm another’s “bodily integrity,” or impede one from exploring and fulfilling one’s capabilities, then it is not “the destiny of antelopes to be torn apart by predators.”

Here, Nussbaum’s world is getting harder to imagine. Animal-rights writing tends to elide the issue of wild-animal suffering for obvious reasons—namely, the scarcity of solutions. Singer covers the issue only briefly, and mostly to say that it’s worth researching the merit of different interventions, such as vaccination campaigns. Nussbaum, for her part, is unclear about how we would protect wild antelopes without impeding the flourishing of their predators—or without impeding the flourishing of antelopes, by increasing their numbers and not their resources. In 2006, when she previously discussed the subject, she acknowledged that perhaps “part of what it is to flourish, for a creature, is to settle certain very important matters on its own.” In her new book, she has not entirely discarded that perspective: intervention, she writes, could result in “disaster on a large scale.” But the point is to “press this question all the time,” and to ask whether our hands-off approach is less noble than it is self-justifying—a way of protecting ourselves from following our ideals to their natural, messy, inconvenient ends.

The enduring challenge for any activist is both to dream of almost-unimaginable justice and to make the case to nonbelievers that your dreams are practical. The problem is particularly acute in animal-rights activism. Ending wild-animal suffering is laughably hard (our efforts at ending human suffering don’t exactly recommend us to the task); obviously, so is changing the landscape of factory farms, or Singer wouldn’t be reissuing his book. In 2014, the British sociologist Richard Twine suggested that the vegan isn’t unlike the feminist of yore, in that both come across as killjoys whose “resistance against routinized norms of commodification and violence” repels those who prefer the comforts of the status quo. Wayne Hsiung, the Direct Action Everywhere activist, was only recently released from jail, after being sentenced for duck and chicken rescues in California. On his blog, he wrote that one reason the prosecution succeeded was that, unlike in Utah, he and his colleagues were cast as “weird extremists.”

It’s easy to construct a straw-man vegan, one oblivious to his own stridency, privilege, or hypocrisy. Isn’t he driving deforestation with all his vegetables? (No, Singer replies, as the vast majority of soybeans are fed to farm animals.) Isn’t he ignoring food deserts or the price tag on vegan substitutes, which puts them out of the reach of poor families? (Nussbaum acknowledges that cost can be an issue, but argues that it only emphasizes the need for resourced people to eat as humanely as they can, given that the costs of a more ethical diet “will not come down until it is chosen by many.”) Anyone pointing out moral culpability will provoke, in both others and themselves, a certain defensiveness. Nussbaum spends a lot of time discussing her uneasiness with her choice to eat fish for nutritional reasons. (She argues that fish likely have no sense of the future, a claim that even she seems unsure about.) Singer is eager to intervene here, emphasizing that animal-rights activism should pursue the diminishment of suffering, not the achievement of sainthood. “We are more likely to persuade others to share our attitude if we temper our ideals with common sense than if we strive for the kind of purity that is more appropriate to a religious dietary law than to an ethical and political movement,” he writes. Veganism is a boycott, and, while boycotts are more effective the more you commit to them, what makes them truly effective is persuading others to join them.

Strangely, where Singer and Nussbaum might agree is that defining the proper basis for the rights of animals is less important, at least in the short term, than getting people not to harm them, for any reason at all. Those reasons might have nothing to do with the animals themselves. Perhaps you decide not to eat animals because you care about people: because you care that the water where you live, if it’s anything like where I live, is too full of CAFO by-products to confidently drink. Perhaps you care about the workers in enormous slaughterhouses, where the pay is low and the costs to the laborer high. Perhaps you believe in a God, and believe that this God would expect better of people than to eat animals raised and killed in darkness. Or perhaps someone you love happens to love pigs, or to love the idea that the world could be gentler or more just, and you love the way they see the future enough to help them realize it. Nussbaum, after all, became interested in animal rights because she loved a person, her late daughter, an attorney who championed legislation to protect whales and other wild animals until her death, in 2019. Nussbaum’s book is dedicated to her—and also, now, to the whales. ♦

New Yorker Favorites

Searching for the cause of a catastrophic plane crash .

The man who spent forty-two years at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool .

Gloria Steinem’s life on the feminist frontier .

Where the Amish go on vacation .

How Colonel Sanders built his Kentucky-fried fortune .

What does procrastination tell us about ourselves ?

Fiction by Patricia Highsmith: “The Trouble with Mrs. Blynn, the Trouble with the World”

Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker .

By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

By Jay Caspian Kang

By Leslie Jamison

By Richard Brody

By Louis Menand

Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — Crime — Animal Cruelty

Essays on Animal Cruelty

Animal cruelty essay topics and outline examples, essay title 1: uncovering the horrors of animal cruelty: causes, consequences, and advocacy.

Thesis Statement: This research essay investigates the underlying causes of animal cruelty, its wide-ranging consequences on both animals and society, and the role of advocacy and legislation in combatting this issue.

• Introduction
• Defining Animal Cruelty: Types and Manifestations
• Root Causes: Psychological, Cultural, and Economic Factors
• Consequences for Animals: Physical and Psychological Effects
• Consequences for Society: Links to Violence and Societal Costs
• Advocacy Efforts: Organizations, Legislation, and Public Awareness
• Conclusion: The Ongoing Struggle Against Animal Cruelty

Essay Title 2: The Role of Animal Cruelty in the Food Industry: Factory Farming, Animal Testing, and Ethical Dilemmas

Thesis Statement: This research essay explores the ethical concerns surrounding animal cruelty within the food industry, including factory farming, animal testing, and the moral dilemmas faced by consumers.

• Factory Farming: Conditions, Treatment, and Implications for Food Production
• Animal Testing: Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Industries' Practices
• Consumer Choices: Ethical Dilemmas and Alternatives
• Regulatory Measures: Government Oversight and Public Pressure
• The Role of Activism: Raising Awareness and Promoting Ethical Consumption
• Conclusion: Balancing the Need for Progress with Ethical Considerations

Essay Title 3: Animal Cruelty in Entertainment: Exploring the Dark Side of Circuses, Zoos, and Exotic Pet Trade

Thesis Statement: This research essay delves into the ethical concerns surrounding animal cruelty in entertainment, focusing on circuses, zoos, and the exotic pet trade, and examining efforts to improve animal welfare in these industries.

• Circuses: Exploitation, Training Methods, and Public Awareness
• Zoos: Conservation vs. Captivity, Enrichment, and Advocacy
• Exotic Pet Trade: Legal and Illegal Aspects, Impact on Wildlife
• Advancements in Animal Welfare: Legislation and Changing Public Attitudes
• Case Studies: Success Stories and Ongoing Challenges
• Conclusion: The Ongoing Struggle to Improve Animal Welfare in Entertainment

Puppy Mills Research Paper

Understanding animal cruelty: causes, effects, and prevention, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences

+ experts online

The Different Types of Animal Cruelty

Animal abuse around the world, the issue of mistreatment of animals at seaworld, animal abuse: is cruelty to animals justifiable for serving mankind, let us write you an essay from scratch.

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

The Need to Prevent Animal Abuse

The problem of human cruelty to animals, animal cruelty in dog fighting across the world, animal abuse and its negative effects, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

Expert-written essays crafted with your exact needs in mind

Causes and Effects of Animal Abuse: Mistreatment of Dogs

Persuasive animal rights and the importance of treating animals with respect, the need for strict legal punishment for animal abandonment, the reasons why animal testing should be stopped, the laws concerning animal abuse in the united states, why using animals for entertainment should be banned, problem of violence against animals, the link between the cruelty of animals and humans, the responsibilities of human beings to prevent cruelty to animals, using traps to hunt wolves and other animals is immoral and cruel, the forms of animal abuse in the united states, the power of change: how you can change the world, effects of separating animals during infancy from their mothers in factory farming, animal rights and welfare around the world, animal right: understanding the importance of keeping animals safe, animals should not be kept in captivity, arguments for eliminating the use of animal testing, discussion: should animals be used for scientific research, the arguments against keeping animals in captivity, reasons why animal testing should be forbidden.

Animal cruelty is the infliction by omission (neglect) or by commission by humans of suffering or harm upon any animal. More narrowly, it can be the causing of harm or suffering for specific achievement, such as killing animals for entertainment; cruelty to animals sometimes encompasses inflicting harm or suffering as an end in itself, defined as zoosadism.

Industrial animal farming, fur industry, alleged link to human violence and psychological disorders, cultural rituals, television and filmmaking, circuses, animal fighting, rattlesnake round-ups, warfare, unnecessary scientific experiments or demonstrations, no pet policies and abandonment, hunting.

One animal is abused every minute. Dogs comprise 65% of all animals suffering abuse. Over 115 million animals – mice, rats, dogs, cats, rabbits, monkeys, birds, among others – are killed in laboratory experiments worldwide for chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing every year. Every major circus that uses animals has been cited for violating the minimal standards of care set by the United States Animal Welfare (AWA).

Relevant topics

• Domestic Violence
• School Shooting
• Serial Killer
• Drunk Driving
• Child Abuse
• War on Drugs

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Bibliography

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

• Animal Rights Essays

Animal Cruelty, What can we do to stop it? Essay

It goes on everyday. Faced with being incapable to pay attention of their animals any more, apparently common people do something unlikely pitiless. They throw out their pets to fend for themselves. We can learn this from the personal experiences, by working with a number of animal saver groups, and from time to time, we’ll realize the results of this unkindness are so offensive as to make one shiver at the thought of people doing such a hateful thing. I have rescued puppies in plastic bags, cats and dogs on streets, and all way of other animals whose only offense was to be loved to little.

Struggling with your HW?

Get your assignments done by real pros. Save your precious time and boost your marks with ease. Just fill in your HW requirements and you can count on us!

• Customer data protection
• 100% Plagiarism Free

So what can be done? I would say the first thing is to make our pets germ-free and sterilized. This only thing can prevent the propagation of unnecessary and reviled pets left to wander a cruel world. This is only the smallest thing you can do yet. In all cities of every state exist refuge and associations for the rescue of deserted animals, watch over No Kill protection and rescue groups in your region and observe if you can join in. The third item a kind human being should carry out is refuse in all its shapes indifference. If you observe animal mistreatment, take some action against the lawbreaker instantly like informing the officials.

On fur farms animals are kept in overcrowded dirty cages, they are restricted to live in those small regions without any protection from the changing weather states. They do not even get the basic requirements like clean water, necessary protection from natural changes and veterinary care. Fur farms restrict them to interact with nature and experience the natural activities like jumping, climbing, burrowing, and swimming. These extreme restrictions tire them from their life and due to lack of natural environment they become unable to deal with their life.

To get the fur, fur farmers use inhumane ways of killing them. They try to practice the cheapest and the way which confirm the death of the animal. The cruelty can be confirmed by imagining their usual techniques which include suffocation, electrocution, poisonous gases and poisonous elements. a lot of animals are electrocuted by containing bars slotted in into their rectums and 240 volts pass all the way through their bodies. The animals shake, vibrate and often scream earlier than they have heart attacks and depart their life. Crude killing ways are not always successful, and at times animals “come to life” at the time when they are being skinned.

Used our essay samples for inspiration ?

For more help, tap into our pool of professional writers and get expert essay editing services!

Burberry, one of the leading bags and costume supplier, is well aware of the suffering that has been experienced in making the fur available for every fur-trimmed coat, hat, bag etc. Even after knowing this fact, the company does not stop using fur in its designs. Regardless of a number of alternatives available, it is useless to argue that they cannot stop using fur in their makings. There is no excuse for Burberry to continue helping the brutal humans in showing their cruelty by snatching the life of millions of animals for the sake of money and luxuries.

To discourage Burberry and many other companies like them, who show that they are legal and are not involved in any such cruelty, we can stop using their products and notify them about our concern by simply contacting them via e-mail or their website. We must spread this news as much as we can, in order to provide a safe environment to the animals and to do justice with them. By using their products we are helping them in increasing their profits and buy more and more fur by killing more animals. Their products must be boycotted until they implement a fur-free plan.

Horse racing is no more an entertaining sport. The caretakers of racing horses do not take any account of the injuries and ailments that horses usually experience during racings. If the horse owners or the racing track owners are not ready to provide fitness and safety of horses, then authorities should implement strict rules to be followed by them in order to take part in the races. No horse owner should be allowed to admit his animal in the race without prior fitness and health check up of horses.

A recent incident witnesses the cruelty that horse owners and people like us are showing towards animals. Eight Belles, during the race, broke both front anklets at the time of galloping out a quarter mile before the end line. Eight Belles, despite of the winning attempt was euthanized on the trail. Is this a sport where animals fight with every difficulty to win the race and give up their lives for the sake of competition? The ASPCA and SPCA need greater force and voice to save the animals’ rights from the cruelty of humans. Animals should be given protection not harm, they should be treated with love and care, the cruelty of human beings should be revealed all around the world in order to stop this unjust system created to make money.

Animals are bred using unnatural ways just to speed up the earning processes. Their lives are getting shorter and shorter due to the regular use of medicines sometimes to enhance the breeding process and sometimes to keep them moving in the races. Media must bring into attention of millions of people about these brutal activities. For the sake of humanity, we must stop visiting and watching such races unless the government officials make necessary changes to avoid the cruelty. The more we appreciate these races by helping them increase their profits, the more are the chances of animal cruelty and money greed rises.

Seals are being hunted in Canada to produce a product which is not necessary for anyone. Regardless of the alternatives available Canada is cruelly and unethically practicing such behavior with those innocent creatures. Around 98 of the animals killed in previous 2 years are the young seal pups of ages between 2 weeks to 3 months.

A number of seals are killed by striking their head with a wooden club. Seals move slowly on the ice so even if they try to run away of this cruelty, they cannot as they find it difficult to pull their weighty small bodies by shuffling their flippers. Rest of the seals are shot from a remote spot and then hauled from the ice onto ships by steel hooks.

During 2001, a self-governing team of veterinary professionals examined Canada’s commercial seal hunt. Their statement affirmed that in 42 percent of the incidents they inspected, the seal did not demonstrate sufficient confirmation of cranial damage to even assure unconsciousness at the moment of skinning. Within the previous three years, almost a million seal pups have been killed for their coat. The very last occasion sealers took life of this many seals, was during 1950s and ’60s the harp seal populace was rapidly lessened by as greatly as two thirds.

Survey confirms 79 of American people fight against the Canadian seal hunt. This disagreement splits all areas of the county and all political parties (Penn, Schoen & Daoust, Crook, Bollinger, Campbell & Wong, 2002). During 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives collectively approved a resolution appealing to Canada to get its commercial seal hunt to a stop. Almost 70 percent of Canadians grasping a view are against the marketable seal hunt outright, and yet higher numbers are in opposition to particular features of the hunt for example the slaughter of seal pups. Only 4 believed that they would be extremely disturbed if the hunt finished. (Environics Research, 2005)

All we can do to stop seal slaughter is to boycott Canadian Seafood in order to bring the actions into consideration we may writer o0ur comments to the Canadian Government. The information may flow in a systematic manner if we try to bring it into notice of the people we know.

The brutality of human beings does not end here. It continues with almost every animal on the planet. The life of a puppy mill dog that is occupied for “breeding reserve” is basically dreadful and depressing. These dogs get small or no veterinary care and not at all see a bed, a pleasure or a plaything. Breeding animals are usually slain after their productiveness disappears, or they are discarded or traded to a different mill. The yearly effect of all this reproduction is a predictable two to four million puppies, many with performance and/or fitness problems.

There are thousands of accounts to be notified from those who have endured owing to puppy mills. The HSUS has accumulated both distressing and optimistic stories from dog holders whose dogs either experienced puppy mills or were born at one.

Almost 1,000 dog breeders vend commercially in Virginia. At one capability, HSUS responders helped out local officers with the elimination of almost 1,000 dogs and puppies. We can help those puppies by adopting from a local shelter or rescue service rather than from the pet shops. We may also donate for those puppies via organizations like HSUS and many others.

Bibliography:

Canada, and Environics Research Group. Canadian attitudes towards overfishing. [Ottawa]: Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, 2005.

Daoust PY, A Crook, TK Bollinger, KG Campbell, and J Wong. “Animal Welfare and the Harp Seal Hunt in Atlantic Canada.” The Canadian Veterinary Journal. La Revue V̐ưet̐ưerinaire Canadienne. 43. 9 (2002): 687-94.

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. ASPCA Animaland. New York: ASPCA, 2002. .

Carroll, David. The ASPCA Complete Guide to Pet Care. New York: Plume, 2001.

“HSUS Calls for End to Breeding.” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 202. 11 (1993).

Related Essays

Find Free Essays

We provide you with original essay samples, perfect formatting and styling

Request must contain at least 2 characters

Popular Topics

Samples by Essay Type

Cite this page

About our services

Topic Animal Rights

Level College

This sample is NOT ORIGINAL. Get 100% unique essay written under your req

• Only $11 per page
• Free revisions included

Studyfy uses cookies to deliver the best experience possible. Read more.

Studyfy uses secured cookies. Read more.

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Meet top uk universities from the comfort of your home, here’s your new year gift, one app for all your, study abroad needs, start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more.

Verification Code

An OTP has been sent to your registered mobile no. Please verify

Thanks for your comment !

Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers.

• School Education /

Essay on Cruelty to Animals in 500 Words for School Students in English

• Updated on  
• Jan 19, 2024

Essay on Cruelty to Animals: Cruelty to animals is referred to as harsh behaviour towards animals. As humans, we think that we are superior and that every other living and non-living thing is inferior to us. We treat and do things in ways we like and want them to. Based on animals’ nature towards humans, they are classified into two categories; domestic animals and wild animals. Domestic animals are those which we can adopt and wild animals cannot be adopted by humans. 

Regardless of their types, animals have fallen victim to cruel human behaviour. Killing animals, physically harming them to perform certain an activity, not feeding them properly, encroaching on their habitat, etc. are some of the types of animal cruelty. To aware you of animal cruelty and the impacts of harsh human behaviour towards animals, here is an essay on cruelty to animals.

Table of Contents

• 1 Essay on Cruelty to Animals in 500 Words
• 2 10 Lines on Cruelty to Animals
• 3 Paragraph on Animal Cruelty

Also Read: Essay on Birds in 600 Words for School Students

Essay on Cruelty to Animals in 500 Words

Cruelty to animals means poor and violent behaviour towards animals. In the name of research and experiments, humans use animals as bait. In zoological parks, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, a lot of animals live in poor conditions, resulting in their endangerment and ultimately their extinction. 

Every living being on this planet deserves to live a peaceful life according to their natural features. There are marine animals that survive in deep water only, terrestrial animals on land and birds that migrate from one place to another. 

In many countries, including India, animal cruelty is a crime. Under the IPC Sections 428 and 429, killing, poisoning and causing physical harm to animals is a punishable offence. 

To achieve sustainable development, we must have a balanced ecosystem, where animals can live freely. Certain measures can help prevent animal cruelty. Supporting animal shelters by providing funds and encouraging animal adoption for shelters can be one way. Educating people about the importance of animal welfare is another strategy. Students, native people and even adults must be educated about animal cruelty and how it harms the overall well-being of animals.

One popular example of animal cruelty is animal training. Places like circuses and private animal training centres physically harm animals, as they want them to perform certain activities in the name of entertainment. Beating animals to make someone laugh or entertain is not just legally wrong but is also an inhuman practice, for animals to have emotions and feel pain.

Appropriate use of technology can help stop animal cruelty. Social media platforms can help raise awareness about animal cruelty, where experts can share information and mobilise people for animal welfare support. 

In recent years, a lot of people have turned to a vegan lifestyle and given up their non-vegetarian lifestyle. Promoting and supporting vegetarian and vegan lifestyles will help reduce the exploitation of animals for food.

In Hindu mythologies, animals were considered sacred and were venerated. These included animals like tigers, elephants, cows, mice, etc. It is up to us how we treat animals. Schools and educational institutions must teach students what animal cruelty is and why it must be stopped. 

Our leather clothes, fancy carpets, shoes, belts and even car seats are made of animal skins. Young animals are killed to obtain their body parts for trade and business. They are illegally transported from one country to another and sold in the black market. We very happily put a bird in a cage, but can we imagine ourselves in a cage? Animals have to suffer due to human activities. 

We, as humans, must stop this madness. They are as much part of this world as we are. Now, it’s high time that we take strong measures to stop cruelty towards animals. It will require a collective effort from different countries to implement international laws against animal cruelty and punish the evildoers.

Also Read: Essay on Animals

10 Lines on Cruelty to Animals

Here are 10 lines on animal cruelty. Feel free to add them to your essay or English writing topics.

• Animal cruelty is an unlawful activity in most of the countries.
• Animal cruelty is a punishable offence under Sections 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code.
• Animal Cruelty is the harsh and poor behaviour towards animals.
• Animal cruelty can be stopped by taking strong legal action.
• The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act has been implemented by the Government of India.
• Animals are put in circuses and zoos for our entertainment.
• Animals’ skin, teeth and horns are used as decor items by humans.
• The cosmetic industry uses products made by killing animals.
• Animals are considered sacred in the Hindu religion and are revered.
• The cow is considered a holy animal in Hindu culture and is worshipped.

Paragraph on Animal Cruelty

Ans: Animal cruelty refers to the harmful and poor behaviour towards animals. As humans, we think that we are superior and that every other living and non-living thing is inferior to us. We treat and do things in ways we like and want them to.

Ans: Animal cruelty can be stopped by strong legal measures, proper education, animal shelters, humane education programs, anonymous mechanisms, etc.

Ans: There are four types of animal abuse: simple neglect, abuse and torture, organised abuse and illegal breeding or animal sexual abuse.

Ans: Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Sections 428 and 429 states that animal cruelty is a punishable offence.

Related Articles

This was all about an essay on cruelty to animals. For more information on such interesting topics, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu .

Shiva Tyagi

With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Contact no. *

Connect With Us

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today.

Resend OTP in

Need help with?

Study abroad.

UK, Canada, US & More

IELTS, GRE, GMAT & More

Scholarship, Loans & Forex

Country Preference

New Zealand

Which English test are you planning to take?

Which academic test are you planning to take.

Not Sure yet

When are you planning to take the exam?

Already booked my exam slot

Within 2 Months

Want to learn about the test

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

When do you want to start studying abroad.

January 2024

September 2024

What is your budget to study abroad?

How would you describe this article ?

Please rate this article

We would like to hear more.

Have something on your mind?

Make your study abroad dream a reality in January 2022 with

India's Biggest Virtual University Fair

Essex Direct Admission Day

Why attend .

Don't Miss Out

Gayle Shomer Brezicki

For The HSUS

Fighting Animal Cruelty and Neglect

Animal cruelty includes intentional, malicious acts of animal abuse and less clear-cut situations where the needs of an animal are neglected. Violence against animals has been linked to a higher likelihood of criminal violence and domestic abuse.

Dogfighting is barbaric, forcing dogs to fight and suffer from horrific injuries. Take action to stop this cruelty and protect dogs.

One way you can help reduce the number of animals without a comfortable home is to have your pets spayed or neutered. This will help reduce number of homeless pets and animals in shelters, which will lead to less animals euthanized each year. Spaying or neutering also has health and behavioral benefits for your pet.

Have enacted animal cruelty laws that also include felony provisions since 2014.

Also affect animals; women entering domestic violence shelters report that their partners hurt or killed the family pet.

Can be expected of a female dog who has been spayed. Male dogs who have been neutered can live 18% longer than those not.

For every animal saved, countless others are still suffering. By stepping up for them, you can create a future where animals no longer have to suffer in puppy mills, factory farms, testing labs or other heartbreaking situations. Start saving lives today!

For every animal saved, countless others are still suffering. Your donation can create a future where animals no longer have to suffer cruelty and abuse.

Essay on Cruelty To Animals for Students and Children

500+ words essay on cruelty to animal.

All laws of benevolence prohibit animal cruelty. In the event of livestock, no plea can justify cruelty, as bad creatures can do little to protect themselves. There are many types of cruelty to livestock. It is suffered primarily by those who have little knowledge of how the sensitive equilibrium of nature is to be maintained by different species. The Cruelty To Animals Essay is an insight into the cruelty that animals suffer and what solutions can be adopted

At the top of the list is a kind of’ government-sponsored cruelty that is evident from the sorry state of our zoos where animals are kept in cramped cages, some of which’ stink’ so badly that you can’t get the strength to look at the animals more closely. Behind the doors of the laboratory is the most horrifying instance of cruelty — young animals in the laboratory are being tortured in the name of studies and experimentation.

In cosmetics, 60,000 chemicals are used and often tested on rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, and monkeys. To determine corneal irritation, corrosive chemicals are injected into the eyes. In order to determine tissue deterioration, animals are frozen in ice and put on hot plates. Every year, about ten million animals are murdered in experiments.

Other cases of worldwide reported cruelty include rare species such as Liver Ridley tortoises becoming enmeshed in the trawler’s nets, leading in suffocation, or spinal tailed lizards Sold to create aphrodisiacs. In the presence of prospective clients, their necks are snapped.

The fins of the sharks are sliced and the bad animals flow back into the ocean to die a painful death. Frog legs are also cut, which are handled as a delicacy. Also, the juvenile chiru deer fur is used to make’ shawls’ of exotic toosh. Despite hundreds of animals and birds being trapped and killed in the name of custom and tradition, despite the laws.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Wildlife Laws

There is legislation specified solely to save the rare and rapidly decreasing species. For example, the Constitution’s Article 15A(G) aimed at protecting and improving the natural environment. The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 is another comparable law.

But the anomaly is that there is not enough implementation of any of this legislation. Also, the Wildlife Protection Act, for example, was revised in 1991, but it could not stop India’s exotic bird trade.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

People hate cruelty to animals, so why do we do it?

Research Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University

Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Disclosure statement

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Australian Catholic University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

University of Wisconsin–Madison provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.

View all partners

Animal welfare experts warn our pets could suffer during the coronavirus pandemic, including from abuse or abandonment .

When we hear about animals being neglected, we’re often outraged. Consider the revelation of the mistreatment of racehorses at a Queensland abattoir, or the man who decapitated a kookaburra . These stories left many of us shocked and appalled.

But harm to animals is common in our society. Tens of billions of animals are killed in farms and slaughterhouses every year. Their deaths are sometimes truly horrific . Humanity’s relationship with animals is dysfunctional: humans love animals yet simultaneously perpetrate extreme violence against them. This is not only bad for animals. It’s bad for us too .

But humans and animals cannot simply end their relationship and part ways. We have to share a world. So we have to forge a better relationship. The hard question is: what shape should that new relationship take?

Differing standards for humans and for animals?

Here’s an ethics thought experiment. Five humans are dying of organ failure. The only way to save their lives is to kill one healthy person, harvest their organs, and transplant these into the five dying people. Is it morally acceptable to kill the one to save the many?

If you’re like most people, your answer is a firm “no”. Humans have a right to life and can’t be killed in service of the greater good. This is an example of what’s known as a deontological judgment.

Read more: If you don't eat meat but still wear leather, here are a few facts to chew on

But now let’s change the scenario. Suppose you are the manager of a sanctuary for chickens. An infectious virus is spreading through the sanctuary and you have to decide whether to kill one infected chicken or allow the virus to spread throughout the sanctuary, killing a larger number. Now what?

When confronted with the chicken scenario, many will say it’s acceptable to kill the one to save the many. Your responsibility as manager of the sanctuary is to promote the aggregate health and well-being of all the chickens in your care. If this means you have to kill one chicken to save many more, so be it. This is an example of what’s known as a utilitarian judgment.

When we think about cases where animal lives are at stake, we often tend to think in utilitarian terms. When we think about cases where human lives are at stake, we often tend to think in deontological terms.

Animal activists put to the test

Even animal activists, committed to a view of animals and humans as moral equals, may be inclined to see animals and humans from these differing perspectives.

At an animal activist conference in Melbourne last year (before the pandemic) we divided the audience into small groups and gave them different scenarios featuring different species.

Only 35% of those considering chicken cases said it was wrong to kill one chicken to save the many, whereas fully 85% of those considering human cases decided it was wrong to kill one human to save the many. An informal experiment, but it seems to illustrate a very human tendency to think of animals and humans according to different standards.

That tendency has been observed in many contexts. Robert Nozick influentially discusses a bifurcated view along these lines in his 1974 classic Anarchy, State, and Utopia . But the question of whether such a view can be attributed to ordinary people is only recently being rigorously studied by psychologists such as Lucius Caviola at Harvard University.

Read more: Illegal hunters are a bigger problem on farms than animal activists – so why aren't we talking about that?

Beyond psychological research, we can look to institutions for evidence that this sort of bifurcated view is widespread, as we have argued elsewhere .

For example, when animals are used in scientific experimentation, researchers are mainly expected to show the benefits outweigh the costs: a utilitarian standard.

But when humans are used, characteristically deontological considerations, such as consent and autonomy, are brought to bear; a cost-benefit analysis isn’t enough.

So we tend to be more utilitarian about animals than about humans. Yet we also don’t see all animals from a purely utilitarian perspective. Think about your family dog. Would your conscience allow you to kill her to save five other dogs?

Three perspectives

The upshot: humans seem to be capable of seeing animals in at least three very different ways.

First, we’re able to regard animals as objects that exist solely for the sake of our use and enjoyment and that don’t matter in themselves. For an example, consider the way the fishing industry treats bycatch as disposable.

Second, we’re able to regard animals as beings who matter in themselves yet who are fundamentally interchangeable with others. That’s a utilitarian perspective. It’s the perspective you occupy when you endorse killing one pig to save five. Such a view is defended by world-renowned Australian philosopher Peter Singer , among many others.

Third, we’re able to see animals as beings who not only matter in themselves, but who also have rights, such as the right to life, or the right to bodily integrity, or even the right to liberty.

Perhaps it’s strange to see farmed animals that way, but it’s not so strange to see non-human family members such as cats and dogs in that way. And famous philosophers such as Tom Regan have argued a vast range of animals ought to be seen in that way.

The future of human-animal relations

Currently, many of us see most animals as mere things, the way fishermen typically see bycatch. And this might continue into the future.

But that’d be a tragedy. Despite their differences from humans, animals are conscious individuals with their own welfare, and so do matter in themselves. Recognising this will be an essential step in reducing the tremendous amount of unnecessary suffering and death that humans inflict on animals.

The simple recognition that animals are not mere things is in itself of massive importance, but it’s also only the beginning of the work we have ahead of us. As a society we must confront deep and difficult questions about whether animals have moral rights and, if so, what those rights might be, and how (if at all) their rights differ from those of human beings. Philosophers have been debating such questions for decades but haven’t reached consensus (yet).

Such questions must be addressed before we can we hope to find a new relationship with animals that fully recognises and respects our obligations to them.

Read more: Not just activists, 9 out of 10 people are concerned about animal welfare in Australian farming

• Animal ethics
• Animal rights
• Animal experimentation
• Animal cruelty
• Farm animals
• animal abuse
• Animal activists

Psychiatrist - Multiple Opportunities

Audience Development Coordinator (fixed-term maternity cover)

Lecturer (Hindi-Urdu)

Director, Defence and Security

Opportunities with the new CIEHF

Essay on Cruelty On Animals

Students are often asked to write an essay on Cruelty On Animals in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Cruelty On Animals

Introduction.

Cruelty on animals is a big problem. It means hurting animals on purpose. This can include not giving them food or water, hitting them, or not taking care of them when they are sick. It is wrong and against the law.

Types of Cruelty

There are two types of cruelty: active and passive. Active cruelty means hurting animals on purpose. Passive cruelty is when people don’t take care of their animals. They might not give them food, water, or medical care. Both types are harmful.

Effects on Animals

Cruelty can hurt animals in many ways. They can get sick or injured. They can also become scared of people. Some animals might even die because of cruelty.

Preventing Cruelty

We can stop cruelty by being kind to animals. We should take care of them and give them what they need. It’s also important to tell an adult if we see someone being cruel to an animal.

Cruelty on animals is wrong. Everyone should treat animals with kindness and respect. If we all work together, we can stop cruelty and make the world a better place for animals.

250 Words Essay on Cruelty On Animals

What is animal cruelty.

Animal cruelty is when people harm animals or do not care for their well-being. It can be physical, like hitting or hurting animals on purpose, or neglect, like not giving an animal food, water, and shelter.

Types of Animal Cruelty

There are two main types of animal cruelty. First, active cruelty, which means people purposely hurting animals. This can include kicking, hitting, or starving an animal. Second, passive cruelty, which is when people neglect animals. They may not mean to hurt the animal, but by not taking care of it, they cause harm.

Animal cruelty can cause animals to get sick, hurt, or even die. Animals who are hurt by people often become scared and may have trouble trusting people again. They can also become sad and not want to eat or play.

How to Stop Animal Cruelty

There are many ways to stop animal cruelty. If you see someone hurting an animal, tell an adult or call the police. You can also help by adopting animals from shelters instead of buying them from pet stores. Educating others about the importance of treating animals kindly can also make a big difference.

Animal cruelty is a serious problem, but we can all do our part to help stop it. By treating animals with kindness and respect, and by speaking up when we see them being mistreated, we can help ensure that all animals live happy, healthy lives.

500 Words Essay on Cruelty On Animals

Cruelty on animals is a serious issue that we all need to think about. It means causing harm to animals for no reason. This is wrong and needs to be stopped. Animals have feelings just like us and they should be treated with kindness and respect.

Forms of Animal Cruelty

There are many ways in which animals are mistreated. Some people hurt animals directly by hitting them or not giving them food or water. This is called physical abuse. Other times, animals are treated badly by being kept in very small spaces where they cannot move around. This is known as neglect.

Animals are also used in harmful experiments in some labs. They are given drugs or have operations done on them that can cause them pain. This is called animal testing. It is another form of animal cruelty that is often hidden from the public.

Effects of Cruelty on Animals

When animals are treated badly, they suffer. They can get hurt or sick and may even die. They can also become scared of people and may act out in fear. This is not good for the animals or for the people who might come into contact with them.

Cruelty to animals also affects our environment. Animals are an important part of our world. They help to keep things in balance. When they are hurt or killed, it can upset this balance and cause problems for other animals and even for us.

What Can Be Done to Stop Animal Cruelty

There are many things that we can do to help stop animal cruelty. One of the most important things is to be kind to animals. We should treat them with respect and care. If we see someone being cruel to an animal, we should tell an adult or call the local animal control.

We can also help by not supporting businesses that treat animals badly. This includes circuses that use animals for entertainment or shops that sell products tested on animals. Instead, we can choose to support companies that treat animals well.

Cruelty to animals is a big problem, but it is one that we can help to solve. By treating animals with kindness, standing up against cruelty, and making good choices about what we buy, we can make a difference. Remember, every creature deserves to live a life free from pain and fear. Let’s all do our part to make sure that happens.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Cruise Ship
• Essay on Crusades
• Essay on Cryptocurrency Boon Or Bane

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Animal Cruelty as an Ethical and Moral Problem Essay

Animal cruelty has been defined as the act of intentional and inhumane harm on animals through the act of physical abuse or maltreatment, yet it is often the case that individuals who have been found guilty of such acts, are left off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist or a fine and are never truly sentenced in the same way as if they had committed a similar act on a human being.

The reason behind this is quite simple, while society and the court systems view animal cruelty as a socially irreprehensible behavior due to the supposed ethical and moral responsibilities humans have as a “superior” species, the entire human race is basically responsible for the murder of millions of animals on a daily basis.

The murder is conducted by means of the vast enterprises that have been put into place to feed humanities insatiable appetite for beef, pork, lamb, venison, and fish. Since the ultimate act of animal cruelty is to kill a creature, it becomes quite evident that processes required to sustain human society and animal cruelty go hand in hand.

Yet what must be understood is that not all forms of animal cruelty are a necessary act to sustain humanity’s continued survival. This is actually one of the main reasons why laws regarding animal cruelty are often vague and have such light sentences; to enforce stricter forms of “humane” treatment of animals means to delve into the “hidden” acts of animal cruelty that society condones due to is overall necessity.

Some activist groups such as Green Peace and PETA have tried changing the way in which society views the necessity of killing animals for food but the fact remains that they are fighting a losing battle since it is impossible to stop society from eating a staple that has been part of the human diet for the past thousand years.

It must be noted though that not all forms of animal cruelty are necessary; for example, pouring boiling water over a young puppy to discourage certain types of behavior, kicking and punching a cat for enjoyment, sitting on top of a young rabbit just to see what will happen or letting a dog starve to death are but a few examples of needless cruelty that has nothing to do with feeding humanity but is more in line with acts related to sadism and socially frowned upon behavior.

These acts can be considered as precursors to socially destabilizing behavior which, if remained unchecked, could lead to even greater acts of irreprehensible behavior which, in their turn, can culminate in the ultimate action of torturing and killing a person “for the fun of it”. It is due to the fact that this paper stresses that actions related to the needless and non-progressive (doesn’t help society in any way, shape or form) act of animal cruelty should be considered a felony with the appropriate amount of incarceration put into effect.

By doing so, not only does this discourage the act itself but it prevents individuals that enjoy such activities, to be closely monitored within a controlled environment in order to determine whether they are a danger to both themselves and society. It is expected that should such actions be implemented, the number of cases in relation to animal cruelty will drop significantly, and thus should result in the promotion of an ethos that encourages treating animals with the dignity and respect they deserve.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, September 13). Animal Cruelty as an Ethical and Moral Problem. https://ivypanda.com/essays/animal-cruelty/

"Animal Cruelty as an Ethical and Moral Problem." IvyPanda , 13 Sept. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/animal-cruelty/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Animal Cruelty as an Ethical and Moral Problem'. 13 September.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Animal Cruelty as an Ethical and Moral Problem." September 13, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/animal-cruelty/.

1. IvyPanda . "Animal Cruelty as an Ethical and Moral Problem." September 13, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/animal-cruelty/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Animal Cruelty as an Ethical and Moral Problem." September 13, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/animal-cruelty/.

• Puppy Mills: Are You Supporting Puppy Bedlams?
• Puppy Mills. Problems. The alternatives for puppy mills
• The PETA print advertisement
• Human Sexuality. Bondage & Discipline, Dominance & Submission, Sadism & Masochism
• Edible Insects as a Source of Protein
• Aboriginal Imagery and Policy in Australia
• John Updike and His Rabbit Series
• Rapid Growth as a Destabilizing Force to Effective Democracy
• Kicking Away the Ladder: The “Real” History of Free Trade
• Australian Lamb: Make Lamb, Not Walls
• Attorney Client Privilege: Alton Logan’s Law Case
• AT&T Company Legal Issues
• Citizens United v.s Federal Election Commission
• Synopsis of Tort Case
• The Examination of Warfield’s Case

Advertisement

Supported by

A Cruel Way to Control Bird Flu? Poultry Giants Cull and Cash In.

Big poultry farms have received millions of dollars for their losses. Animal welfare groups contend that aid reinforces inhumane cullings of birds exposed to the virus.

• Share full article

By Andrew Jacobs

The highly lethal form of avian influenza circulating the globe since 2021 has killed tens of millions of birds, forced poultry farmers in the United States to slaughter entire flocks and prompted a brief but alarming spike in the price of eggs .

Most recently, it has infected dairy cows in several states and at least one person in Texas who had close contact with the animals, officials said this week.

The outbreak, it turns out, is proving to be especially costly for American taxpayers.

Last year, the Department of Agriculture paid poultry producers more than half a billion dollars for the turkeys, chickens and egg-laying hens they were forced to kill after the flu strain, H5N1, was detected on their farms.

Officials say the compensation program is aimed at encouraging farms to report outbreaks quickly. That’s because the government pays for birds killed through culling, not those that die from the disease. Early reporting, the agency says, helps to limit the virus’s spread to nearby farms.

The cullings are often done by turning up the heat in barns that house thousands of birds, a method that causes heat stroke and that many veterinarians and animal welfare organizations say results in unnecessary suffering.

Among the biggest recipients of the agency’s bird flu indemnification funds from 2022 to this year were Jennie-O Turkey Store, which received more than $88 million, and Tyson Foods, which was paid nearly $30 million. Despite their losses, the two companies reported billions of dollars in profits last year.

Overall, a vast majority of the government payments went to the country’s largest food companies — not entirely surprising given corporate America’s dominance of meat and egg production.

Since February 2022, more than 82 million farmed birds have been culled, according to the agency’s website . For context, the American poultry industry produces more than nine billion chickens and turkeys each year.

The tally of compensation was obtained by Our Honor , an animal welfare advocacy group, which filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S.D.A. The advocacy organization Farm Forward collaborated on further analysis of the data.

The breakdown of compensation has not been publicly released, but agency officials confirmed the accuracy of the figures.

To critics of large-scale commercial farming, the payments highlight a deeply flawed system of corporate subsidies, which last year included more than $30 billion in taxpayer money directed to the agriculture sector, much of it for crop insurance, commodity price support and disaster aid.

But they say the payments related to bird flu are troubling for another reason: By compensating commercial farmers for their losses with no strings attached, the federal government is encouraging poultry growers to continue the very practices that heighten the risk of contagion, increasing the need for future cullings and compensation.

“These payments are crazy-making and dangerous,” said Andrew deCoriolis, Farm Forward’s executive director. “Not only are we wasting taxpayer money on profitable companies for a problem they created, but we’re not giving them any incentive to make changes.”

Ashley Peterson, senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at the National Chicken Council, a trade association, disputed the suggestion that the government payouts reinforced problematic farming practices.

“Indemnification is in place to help the farmer control and eradicate the virus — regardless of how the affected birds are raised,” she said in an email. The criticisms, she added, were the work of “vegan extremist groups who are latching on to an issue to try and advance their agenda.”

The U.S.D.A. defended the program, saying, “Early reporting allows us to more quickly stop the spread of the virus to nearby farms,” according to a statement.

Although modern farming practices have made animal protein much more affordable, leading to an almost doubling of meat consumption over the past century, the industry’s reliance on so-called concentrated animal-feeding operations comes with downsides. The giant sheds that produce nearly 99 percent of the nation’s eggs and meat spin off enormous quantities of animal waste that can degrade the environment, according to researchers.

And infectious pathogens spread more readily inside the crowded structures.

“If you wanted to create the ideal environment for fostering the mutation of pathogens, industrial farms would pretty much be the perfect setup,” said Gwendolen Reyes-Illg, a scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute who focuses on meat production.

The modern chicken, genetically homogenous and engineered for fast growth, compounds those risks. Selective breeding has greatly reduced the time it takes to raise a barrel-breasted, table-ready broiler, but the birds are more susceptible to infection and death, according to researchers. That may help explain why more than 90 percent of chickens infected with H5N1 die within 48 hours.

Frank Reese, a fourth-generation turkey farmer in Kansas, said that the modern, broad-breasted white turkey is ready for slaughter in half the time of heritage breeds. But fast growth comes at a cost: The birds are prone to heart problems, high blood pressure and arthritic joints, among other health issues, he said.

“They have weaker immune systems, because bless that fat little turkey’s heart, they are morbidly obese,” said Mr. Reese, 75, who pasture-raises rare heritage breeds. “It’s the equivalent of an 11-year-old child who weighs 400 pounds.”

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been circulating since 1996, but the virus had evolved to become even more lethal by the time it showed up in North America in late 2021. It led to the culling of nearly 60 million farmed birds in the United States, and felled countless wild ones and a great many mammals, from skunks to sea lions. Last week, federal authorities for the first time identified the virus in dairy cows in Kansas, Texas, Michigan, New Mexico and Idaho. The pathogen has also been implicated in a small number of human infections and deaths , mostly among those who work with live poultry, and officials say the risks to people remains low .

The virus is extremely contagious among birds and spreads through nasal secretions, saliva and feces, making it tough to contain. Migrating waterfowl are the single greatest source of infection — even if many wild ducks show no signs of illness. The virus can find its way into barns via dust particles or on the sole of a farmer’s boot.

While infections in North America have ebbed and flowed over the past three years, the overall number has declined from 2022, according to the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service .

On Tuesday, the nation’s largest egg producer, Cal-Maine Foods, announced that it had halted production at its Texas facility and culled more than 1.6 million birds after detecting avian influenza.

Federal officials have been debating whether to vaccinate commercial flocks , but the initiative has divided the industry, in part because it could prompt trade restrictions harmful to the nation’s $6 billion poultry export sector.

Many scientists, fearing that the next pandemic could emerge from a human-adapted version of bird flu, have been urging the White House to embrace a vaccination campaign.

The agency’s livestock indemnity program , part of a farm bill passed by Congress in 2018, pays farmers 75 percent of the value of animals lost to disease or natural disaster. Since 2022, the program has distributed more than $1 billion to affected farmers.

Critics say the program also promotes animal cruelty by allowing farmers to euthanize their flocks by shutting down a barn’s ventilation system and pumping in hot air, a method that can take hours. Chickens and turkeys that survive are often dispatched by a twist of the neck.

Crystal Heath, a veterinarian and co-founder of Our Honor , said the American Veterinary Medical Association , in partnership with the agriculture department, recommended that ventilation shutdown be used only under “ constrained circumstances .” She added that a vast majority of farms relied on it because the process was inexpensive and easy to carry out.

“All you need are duct tape, tarps and a few rented heaters,” Dr. Heath said. “But ventilation shutdown plus is especially awful because it can take three to five hours for the birds to die.”

Thousands of veterinarians have signed a petition urging the association to reclassify ventilation shutdown as “not recommended” and say that other methods that use carbon dioxide or nitrogen are far more humane, even if they are more costly. Since the start of the outbreak through December 2023, ventilation shutdown was used to cull 66 million chickens and turkeys, or about 80 percent of all those killed, according to analysis of federal data by the Animal Welfare Institute, which obtained the data through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Last summer, the institute filed a petition asking the agriculture department to require farms to devise depopulation plans that are more humane as a condition for receiving compensation. The agency has yet to respond to the petition.

Tyson and Jennie-O, the top recipients of federal compensation, have both used ventilation shutdown, according to an analysis of federal data . Tyson declined to comment for this article, and Hormel, which owns the Jennie-O brand, did not respond to requests for comment.

Some animal welfare advocates, pointing to recent outbreaks that were allowed to run their course, question whether killing every bird on an affected farm is even the right approach. When H5N1 hit Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary in California in February 2023, killing three birds, the farm’s operators steeled themselves for a state-mandated culling. Instead, California agriculture officials, citing a recently created exemption for farms that do not produce food, said they would spare the birds as long as strict quarantine measures were put in place for 120 days.

Over the next few weeks, the virus claimed 26 of the farm’s 160 chickens, ducks and turkeys, but the others survived, even those that had appeared visibly ill, according to Christine Morrissey, the sanctuary’s executive director.

She said the experience suggested that mass cullings might be unnecessary. “There needs to be more research and effort put into finding other ways of responding to this virus,” Ms. Morrissey said, “because depopulation is horrifying and it’s not solving the problem at hand.”

With the northward migration in full swing, poultry farmers like Caleb Barron are holding their breath. Mr. Barron, an organic farmer in California, said there was only so much he could do to protect the livestock at Fogline Farm given that the birds spent most of their lives outdoors.

So far, the birds remain unscathed. Perhaps it’s because Mr. Barron raises a hardier breed of chicken, or maybe it’s because his birds have a relatively good life, which includes high-quality feed and low stress.

“Or maybe,” he said, “ it’s just luck.”

Andrew Jacobs is a Times reporter focused on how healthcare policy, politics and corporate interests affect people’s lives. More about Andrew Jacobs

When the landfill site is closed, discharge water filtration and clarification equipment is installed, the territory is covered with specific material and backfilled. Then many tubes used to purify gas are installed. The greatest danger in landfill restoration is the groundwater contamination. In and around Moscow there are a few dozens of waste deposits, some of which are growing higher than multistoried residential houses standing nearby.

During my work on the project, I visited 7 landfills in Moscow and the Moscow region. Some objects were guarded, and it was so absurd that the guards actually guarded a heap of rubbish.

While in these landfills, I saw that the liquid produced by the rotting waste flows out of the pipes sticking out on the slopes into the nearby rivers. Working on this project I wanted to show the rubbish not in the way everyone is used to see it. What is seen in front of our eyes is hilly landscapes, hiding million tons of consumer waste — a typical view of the contemporary system. We do not always see what is hidden.

Nikita Zhirkov

Leave your opinion: cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Related Articles

My boyfriend is an alien

This is not about the…

Out of the shell

The main thing is the…

Don't have an account?

Adblock Detected

We do not post commercial ads. We only promote our internal services.