Animal abuse is a huge problem around the world. Many people are beating animals, starving animals, even killing animals, but for what? People abuse animals for many different reasons: entertainment, hunting or poaching, lab testing, etc. Some people who abuse animals “don’t do it on purpose.” For example they might not pay much attention to the animal. Other people hurt animals on purpose for their own liking. “These are people who intentionally hurt animals because they enjoy hurting things, or because it makes them feel powerful,” says writer from The Humane Society website.

Every year hundreds of thousands of animals are abused. Dogs are the most common animals that are abused. Then it’s cats, horses, birds, chickens and so on. Many issues of animal abuse are dog fighting, puppy mills, animal hoarding, and horse slaughtering.

Dog fighting is a problem around the world. Dog fighting is a felony in the United States, but that does not stop it from happening. “Although fights are not usually to the death, many dogs succumb to their injuries later, and losing dogs are often discarded, killed or brutally executed as part of the ‘sport’,” (ASPCA).

Next there are puppy mills. Dogs and puppies in puppy mills are not properly taken care of. They live in wire cages causing them to hurt their paws. Female dogs are often killed when they can no longer reproduce. Many puppies that come from puppy mills often have diseases because “dogs are often bred with little regard for genetic quality.” (ASPCA). Puppy mills should be illegal if they are not going to properly take care of the animals.

Animal hoarding is a huge problem in the United States. “It has been estimated that there are 900 to 2,000 new cases of animal hoarding every year in the United States,” that's thousands of animals involved in this. How is this animal abuse? Animal hoarding is animal abuse because of the way the animals are treated in the home. When owner start to get over twenty animals, the owner will not be able to take care of ALL the animals. The owner won’t take care of his/her animals if they are sick or injured. When animal hoarders are found, some or all of their animals are taken away from them due to inhumane care.

Thousands of horses are slaughtered each year. “Every year, approximately 150,000 American horses are trucked over our borders to be slaughtered for human consumption.” Horse slaughtering and euthanasia have two totally different meanings. While euthanasia is a gentle, painless death, slaughtering is brutal. The animal can feel it, “sometimes they even remain conscious during dismemberment.” Before the horses are slaughtered, they are not fed and they do not receive water. Sometimes this lasts for a day or more. All the horse slaughterers companies were found in the United States were shut down, but that does not mean there are none left in the world.

Animal abuse is a huge problem!  There are numerous ways to prevent animal abuse. Like reporting animal abuse if you see it, volunteer to help animals, and set good examples of caring for animals to others.