Category Archives: Facts & Stats About Animal Cruelty
Congress: Stop the Reckless Big Cat Trade
Shockingly, there are more captive tigers in the U.S. than there are in the wild. Due to lack of laws, unqualified people may easily purchase and breed tigers and other big cats across the country.
A recent HSUS investigation of one facility holding hundreds of big cats uncovered numerous dangerous public interactions with tigers, tiger deaths, frivolous breeding, and tiger cubs punched, dragged and kicked by workers.
The Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act (H.R. 4122), introduced by Reps. Buck McKeon and Loretta Sanchez, would prohibit the private ownership and breeding of tigers and other dangerous big cats.
TAKE ACTION Please make a brief, polite phone call to your U.S. Representative urging co-sponsorship of H.R. 4122. Look up your Representative’s phone number. You can simply say: “Please co-sponsor the Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act (H.R. 4122).” After making your phone call (please do not skip that crucial step!), submit the form below to send a follow-up message. Be sure to edit your message so it stands out.
SAMPLE EMAIL:
Your Message
Dear U.S. Representative,
There are currently more tigers in captivity in the U.S. than there are in the wild, and captive uses of big cats can undermine conservation efforts to save these species. Many are kept by unqualified people in flimsy cages.
This bill doesn’t affect legitimate zoos and sanctuaries possessing big cats. The majority of big cats are kept, purchased, and sold by poorly run roadside zoos and reckless private owners with little or no experience in the keeping, handling, or proper care of these animals.
Big cats are continuously bred to ensure a steady supply of young cubs are available for handling and sale, and older animals are transported to substandard facilities across the country.
Consequently, law enforcement must spend resources to deal with incidents where these deadly predators escape and threaten public safety.
Please co-sponsor H.R. 4122.
Article – HumaneSociety.org
Video – HumaneSociety.org
Cruelty Connections
According to a 1997 study done by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Northeastern University, animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people and four times more likely to commit property crimes than are individuals without a history of animal abuse.
Many studies in psychology, sociology, and criminology during the last 25 years have demonstrated that violent offenders frequently have childhood and adolescent histories of serious and repeated animal cruelty. The FBI has recognized the connection since the 1970s, when its analysis of the lives of serial killers suggested that most had killed or tortured animals as children. Other research has shown consistent patterns of animal cruelty among perpetrators of more common forms of violence, including child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association considers animal cruelty one of the diagnostic criteria of conduct disorder.
If you break it down to its bare essentials: “Abusing an animal is a way for a human to find power/joy/fulfillment through the torture of a victim they know cannot defend itself.”
Now break down a human crime, say rape. If we substitute a few pronouns, it’s the SAME THING. “Rape is a way for a human to find power/joy/fulfillment through the torture of a victim they know cannot defend themselves.”
Now try it with, say, domestic abuse such as child abuse or spousal abuse: “Child abuse is a way for a human to find power/joy/fulfillment through the torture of a victim they know cannot defend themselves.”
Do you see the pattern here? Read the rest of this entry
11 Facts About Animal Cruelty
Have you ever wondered why you do what you do, as an Empath? You feel someone in pain and you are drawn to them like a moth to a flame. And you offer your support for a brief moment in the hopes that it will help support them, validate them, give them hope, allow them to feel respected as a human being, and if only for a small amount of time, lift them out of their doldrums.
Good and Evil are what results from such things as Empathy and Apathy. When one is to indifferent to care what happens they let go the reigns of hope and allow anyone to do what they want, despite the outcome. When one cares enough to open themselves to others and share in their pain, one opens the door to respect and hope for both people involved in the exchange. And that hope has a ripple effect, often times.
Apathy is like a virus that infests a human heart, mind and spirit when they decide to stop fighting and accept things as they are. We do this to our environment and our planet. We do this to the animals, wild and domesticated, that live among us. And we do this to ourselves. – EmpathicPerspectives.wordpress.com
11 Facts About Animal Cruelty
1. In many circuses, wild and exotic animals are trained through the use of intimidation and physical abuse. Former circus employees have reported seeing animals beaten, whipped, poked with sharp objects and even burned to force them to learn their routines! Read the rest of this entry
