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A Brief History of Animal Abuse and Cruelty Essay

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In October of 2012, a Jack Russell Terrier puppy named Phoenix was set on fire in Buffalo N.Y. The woman who discovered him was attracted by black smoke. She managed to put out the the flames with her sweater and proceeded to rush him to a small animal hospital with severe burns over his whole body and a serious ankle infection. Although he lost 60% off of both of his ears he maintained almost complete mobility of his leg. He still has a slight limp. Judi Bunge, a senior vet technician at Buffalo Small Animal Hospital who had been looking after Phoenix, adopted him soon after he had fully recovered. He now lives with Judi and her two other dogs. "Phoenix will become a therapy dog and continue his work as an ambassador for the …show more content…

However, the “liberation ideology” did not come about until around 1975. There are many different things that fall under the category of “cruelty”, neglect and abuse being the two main subcategories. The most common type of animal abuse involves dogs, Pit-bulls in particular. In 2007, of 1800 media-reported cases of animal cruelty, 64% (1,126) involved dogs, 18% (337) involved cats, and 18% (337) involved other animals. Some of the most common places where animal abuse occur are, in no particular order: fur farms, dog fights, laboratories, races (both Greyhound and horse), slaughterhouses, and puppy mills. Some less thought of forms of animal abuse are crush videos, traditional Chinese medicine, the cat/dog meat trade in Asia, the ivory trade, trophy hunting, and even shock collars. Abandonment is the leading form of animal cruelty. (See illustration.) “It is quite clear that in abusing animals we abuse our relationship with animals, and that we abuse ourselves. We become less human to the extent that we treat any living beings as things” (R.D. Laing). There is a very evident connection between animal cruelty and cruelty to other humans. In studies conducted between 1983 and 2004, 60% of children who met the criteria for child abuse/neglect had families that were cruel to their pets. In 88%

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