Animals: Shelters, Puppy Mills, And Abuse

Mistreatment Of Animals By Individuals, Groups, Puppy Mills, And Even Shelters

It’s a pretty sad state we live in when no one wants to hear the truth about what happens to animals in shelters, or what cruel things that people do to animals. People would rather look the other way than to acknowledge the existence of animal cruelty and mistreatment. They would rather not spread the word that these things are happening so that it can be prevented.

You can’t ignore this stuff. By ignoring it, you only make the problem worse because you are allowing it to happen. If you don’t want this injustice against animals happen, then instead of looking the other way, or making silly comments about how “immature” it is, then do something about it. Do something by either spreading the word about what goes on, or actually going out and helping if you can.

I recently came under fire for a post I shared on Facebook about how many animals are put down because there is no room to keep them in the shelters. Healthy animals that no one wanted are, sadly, put to death. This post was accompanied by a horrific image of dogs and cats, dead, in barrels outside.

This image is one of many images that comes up when you do an Image search on Google for “puppy mills”. Puppy Mills – Wikipedia

The post has since been removed by Facebook, but I was able to find the story that went along with it here: http://peacefullyminded.tumblr.com/post/65969076436/please-take-the-time-to-read-this-it-breaks-my-heart

The above image alone is likely what spawned the statement below, because if the person who made the statement actually read the article, then surely they could not be so heartless.

Because of the picture (above) and article (link above) I was told, and I quote:

“Quit showing this kinda shit it’s horrible and you don’t need to post this kinda stuff grow up”

Who really needs to grow up here? The person who wrote the comment above doesn’t want to see this stuff; well frankly, neither do I, but the truth is the truth. This stuff happens. Animals are put down because they don’t have “forever homes” and are discarded. Shelters are overflowing with animals that people don’t want or can’t afford. Most shelters cannot afford to keep all these animals so they have to discard of them somehow. Unfortunately, that ‘somehow’ is euthanizing them.

The mature thing to do in a situation such as this one is to pass the post by if you don’t want to see it or hear about it, and go on about your business. I’m sorry that it upsets you, but this happens, and the only way to stop it from happening is to spread awareness about it.

I am grown up; I act maturely. I don’t make stories up. I spread awareness of problems that we as a people can solve. I spread awareness of things that we need to pay attention to. Anyone who can’t see that is sick; it is a sickness that cannot easily be cured. It is a mental sickness. It’s sick to think that spreading awareness is immature.

By making such a comment, you are condoning these actions. You would rather it be ignored and not looked at so that you don’t have to feel bad about what’s happening to these poor animals. But it IS happening. And it’s terrible that it’s happening.

This issue was brought up because of a specific article on shelters discarding unwanted animals, but it goes deeper than that. It goes to a level of all animal cruelty. This issue speaks of all mistreated animals, whether it’s by shelters, or by individuals, or by groups, or by puppy mills or kitty mills.

The only way to stop this kind of unfortunate mistreatment of animals is to shed light on it. Terrible things hide in the darkness, in the unknown, in the hidden. When you bring these things into the light, the darkness of these events is forced to flee. It is only when people stand up and do something about how animals are mistreated that we can stop the mistreatment from happening.

Animals are abused, beaten, dragged, left for dead, set on fire, put in fights, thrown in dumpsters, starved, dehydrated, etc; the list goes on. Animals that don’t deserve anything but love are put through torture and absolute hell.

The following link talks about how a lot of animals are tormented just for profit. It’s disgusting and just downright sickening.

http://ezguides.hubpages.com/hub/Why-You-Must-Never-Buy-Pet-From-Pet-Store–Ad-Or-Online#

We see the stories that are brought to our attention on the news like when Michael Vick was caught with the dog fighting ring. It was only brought to the public’s attention because he was a famous football player with the NFL. Most cases where things like this happen are unseen, and unreported. Only probably less than 1% of all animal abuse cases make it into the media. It is through social media that probably another 2-5% of all animal cruelty is seen and made public.

When you cannot bring yourself to acknowledge that these things happen and share the information so that it can be stopped, you are just as bad as the people who are abusing the animals because you do absolutely nothing to prevent it from happening. By saying nothing, and doing nothing, you choose that “abuse is ok” and that you’re ok with it happening.

Yes, I know that what is shown in animal cruelty photos is very graphic; I understand that very well. No one (except for sick sadistic people who like that sort of thing) wants to see an animal in that condition. I certainly don’t. However, these things continue to happen, especially when we choose to turn a blind eye to it.

It’s time to really grow up, and start showing people that it’s not ok in the least to abuse and mistreat animals. It’s time to crack down on people who torture animals for fun, or out of anger. It’s time to alert people to the overcrowding of animal shelters and to let them know that they should always go there first for an animal so that they can save an animal’s life.

By not sharing, you’re not caring, and you are condemning another dog or cat to death. Will you do the mature thing and share? Will you show people that animal lives are just as important as human lives?