STOP ABUSING AN ENDANGERED SPECIES (Richel H. Cubelo)
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ANIMAL WELFARE AND RIGHTS
(Stop
abusing an endangered species)
INTRODUCTION
“We all have a
responsibility to protect endangered species, both for their sake and for the
sake of our own future generations.” - Loretta Lynch
We consider animals as our best friends. They also have
emotions. Though animals cannot
express their feelings linguistically but their emotions can be expressed through actions.
Every 60 seconds, an animal gets abused. That’s unconscionable, especially in our advanced culture, but
animal cruelty continues to occur all over the world.
Animal
cruelty can take many different forms, but the impact is always the same. A
sentient animal capable of love and creating social relationships experience
pain, fear, and desperation. And it needs to stop. Animal cruelty is real and pervasive. It happens to all
different types of animals and in every corner of the world. It’s also
preventable and unnecessary.
We live in a world that not
only turns a blind eye to animal cruelty but condones it — whether through
indifference or legislation. It’s legal to raise chickens in deplorable
conditions for the sole purpose of slaughtering them later. If that isn’t
animal cruelty, then what is?
The problem is that there aren’t enough people fighting for animal
rights. If everyone started to look at animals — and not just dogs and cats —
as fellow animals who share our planet, we would see far fewer cases of cruelty
toward animals.
One thing we humans fail at is seeing
an endangered species. We are often blind to the interconnectedness of
everything that supports life, a web so complex and interdependent, we are only
beginning to understand it. The food chain, from the tiniest little
microorganisms to the largest creatures on earth, keep us humans alive.
So, when we talk about the grey
whale, the timber wolf, the black rhino, it’s not just that we should save
these endangered creatures for their own good, but it’s also for ours.
The current
legislation and government bodies that protect wild species from extinction are
both being defunded and reorganized. It will be up to ordinary citizens and
environmental groups to save these important links on the food chain.
Here are some ways to accomplish this.
1. Educate your family about endangered
species in your area.
It’s
not just about snow leopards in Russia, it’s about the ecosystem in your own
backyard. Teach your friends and family about wildlife, birds, fish and plants
that live near you. Just awareness of these species is a critical step. From
the worms in the garden to the bats that pollinate and control the mosquitos,
there are many ways that our daily habits at home affect these creatures.
2. Recycle and buy sustainable
products.
Much
of what threatens local populations has to do with development and more and
more of the natural world is plundered to product new goods. Never buy
furniture made of wood from rainforests or endangered trees. Recycle your cell
phones, because a mineral used in electronic production is mined in gorilla
habitat. Don’t use palm oil because forests where tigers live are
being cut down to plant palm plantations.
3. Grow native plants.
It’s
a no-brainer but local species rely on local plants. You are providing food
and shelter for native wildlife and you can reduce your water usage at the same
time. Attracting native insects like bees and butterflies can help pollinate
your flowers. And conversely, invasive species compete with native species for
resources and habitat, threatening biodiversity. They can even prey on native
species directly, forcing native species towards extinction.
4. Reduce your water consumption.
During droughts, people get better
about not watering their lawns, but we need to understand that clean water is a
global problem for wild animals, so the less humans consume, the better.
Never dump chemicals or pharmaceuticals down toilets, storm drains or
into streams or lakes.
5. Reduce your personal footprint.
Drive
less, walk more. Support better public transport, use biodegradable
products and eat whole food from your farmers market.
6. Do not buy plastic products.
Take
your bags to the store, reuse containers and properly dispose of lightweight
plastics. Wild animals get tangled in these products, and they end up in
the ocean being ingested by small fish and killing off beneficial
microorganisms.
7. Pressure your civil servants.
It
cannot rest on the scientific community alone to defend the natural world,
voters and consumers must take a stand. This means singing petitions,
writing letters and donating.
8. Volunteer your time to protect the
wildlife in your area.
Wildlife
refuges, parks, and other places are often underfunded and desperate for help. Volunteering
at one of these places to protect the animals might mean just educating
visitors, or picking up litter.
9. Do not purchase products from
companies that are known polluters.
Many
industries pollute natural water resources and lobby hard so that they
don’t have to clean up their own messes. You can do your part by not giving
these companies your business, and cast your vote with your dollar.
Spread the word about bad business practices and when it dings their
bottom lines, these companies will take notice.
10.
Get
in touch with your Fish and Game Department.
If
you hunt, keep your licenses up to date and stay in touch with your local WFG
so that you know which populations of game need culling and which are under
threat. Hunting, instituted properly, is a sustainable way of maintaining
wild populations like deer and turkey.
11.
Black
out the Black Market.
Sometimes
when we travel, we don’t realize that the souvenirs we are buying are under
threat. Avoid supporting the market in illegal wildlife including:
tortoise-shell, ivory, and coral.
12.
Herbicides
and pesticides are hazardous pollutants that affect wildlife at many levels.
These
chemicals take a long time to degrade and build up in the soils before
disseminating throughout the food chain. Critical predators like hawks, owls
and coyotes suffer if they eat poisoned animals, and it can rock whole
populations.
Types
Of Animal Cruelty
Ø FUN FARMING
The fur trade
is one of the cruelest on earth. Animals are skinned alive for their fur after
being crushed in to tiny cages for months to await their fate. They are injured
while roughly treated in transit, but left to suffer with broken bones.
Ø DOG FIGHTING
The facts of dog fighting: The
horrific abuse inflicted on the dogs by humans, despite the agony they suffer
when forced in to fights when desperately trying to survive and please their
blood thirsty owners, frightened of the sometimes fatal torture they receive if
they disappoint them.
Ø ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION
Animal experiments are extremely
cruel to animals and dangerous to humans as they are so unreliable. Humane
methods of testing products, not involving animals, is much safer. Think about
how often you hear about a promising new drug that is “expected to be available
in about 5 years time”, but then never hear of again.
Ø CRUSHVIDEOS
Crush videos are videos of animal cruelty showing innocent puppies and kittens being slowly crushed to death under the feet of women for the viewing pleasure of sick and depraved individuals.
Crush videos are videos of animal cruelty showing innocent puppies and kittens being slowly crushed to death under the feet of women for the viewing pleasure of sick and depraved individuals.
Ø ABUSE OF GREYHOUNDS IN GREYHOUND RACING
There is so
much unseen cruelty behind Greyhound racing. If the dogs are not making money
they are usually no longer wanted. They are often inhumanely and callously
killed, neglected until they die, or are abandoned. They have sometimes had
their ears cut off without anaesthetic so their owners cannot be traced through
their racing tattoos.
Ø ANIMAL ABUSE CASES
Every single day countless new
cruelty cases are discovered where the extent of animal suffering purposely
caused is sickening. Many cases will never be discovered.
Ø TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE
The use of
animals, including endangered species, for Traditional Chinese Medicine,
involves horrific cruelty. It threatens the survival of endangered species and
causes a life of misery and agony for many animals because the trade is so
lucrative to poachers.
Ø THE CAT and DOG MEAT TRADE IN ASIA
Millions of
cats and dogs are eaten in countries across Asia. How the cats and dogs are
treated and ‘prepared’ is absolutely brutal. Their fates can involve being
severely beaten, skinned alive, boiled / baked / cooked alive after horrific
treatment.
Ø FROM FARM TO SLAUGHTER HOUSE : THE HORRIFYING CRUELTY
What the meat industry doesn’t want
you to know about the terrible cruelty & suffering inside slaughter houses.
Ø FACTORY FARMING
This page is
about the suffering and misery caused to farm animals trapped in to a life of
factory farming.
Ø CRUEL ANIMAL OVERPOPULATION CONTROLS and ATTITUDES WORLDWIDE
Cruel
measures to control animal overpopulation are legal in different countries,
causing animals terrible prolonged suffering.
Ø BREED SPECIFIC LEGISLATION
Breed
Specific Legislation (BSL) is where law makers order the deaths of millions of
gentle, innocent dogs, that have never done anything wrong, JUST because they
are a certain breed. It has already in force in the UK and is a constant threat
in other places.
Ø SPANISH FESTIVALS OF ANIMAL TORTURE AND OTHER TRADITIONS WORLDWIDE
There are
sadistic Spanish festivals involving the terrifying & torturing to death of
innocent animals. Other countries also have horrific traditions like this, such
as the Brazilian Festival Farra Do Boi, detailed on this page too.
Ø PET SHOPS, PUPPY FARMS, and BACK YARD BREEDERS
Puppy farms and puppy mills are cruel
prisons full of suffering that are only interested in profit and not animal welfare.
Ø PET ABANDONMENT
Millions of
pets are abandoned every year and only a tiny proportion of these are adopted.
This results in millions of innocent loving pets being put to death, often in
horrific ways, every year.
Ø HORSE RACING ABANDONMENT and ABUSE
Horse racing causes many horses to suffer
terribly. From horses forced to race that die on race courses, to ones killed,
abandoned & neglected when no longer of use.
Ø THE BUSH MEAT TRADE
This page
provides information about illegal poachers brutally killing wild animals for
meat, endangering species.
Ø WILDLIFE SMMUGLING and the ILLEGAL EXOTIC PET TRADE
The fourth
biggest illegal trade in the world, which funds organised crime and leads to
extinction of endangered species, this trade causes unimaginable cruelty and
suffering to its animal victims.
Ø RHINO POACHING
With
rhino horns being worth more than gold, poachers are quickly driving the
Rhinoceros to extinction using brutal methods, causing each Rhino horrific
suffering.
Ø THE IVORY TRADE
Because of the lucrative illegal international
ivory trade, scores of elephants across Asia and Africa are brutally massacred
ever year for their tusks, leaving their young orphaned, & elephants under
threat of extinction.
Ø CANNED HUNTS and TROPHY HUNTING
Canned
hunting and trophy hunting is where companies trap wild animals in enclosed
areas of varying size, sometimes tame and drug them to make them slow and less
afraid of humans, and then accept large payments from individuals who want to
kill them or fun.
Ø ANIMAL TOURISM CRUELTY
Find out how animals involved in
animal related tourism suffer due to tourists funding the industry.
Ø SHOCK DOG COLLARS
Electric
shock dog collars are used to try to stop dogs barking, or to discourage other
unwanted behaviour.
Ø CIRCUS ANIMAL CRUELTY
Find out
about the terrible suffering animals are made to endure when part of a circus.
Ø LINK BETWEEN ANIMAL CRUELTY and HUMAN VIOLENCE
People who
perpetrate human violence often begin by torturing animals, often in their
youth. If someone is cruel to animals, it is a warning sign that their
behaviour could escalate.
HERE ARE SOME SURE SIGNS OF ANIMAL
NEGLECT:
NO SHELTER
- Animals need
protection from the elements while outdoors to ensure their welfare and
well-being.
COLLAR TOO
TIGHT - Not increasing the size of a collar as an animal
grows causes injury, strangulation and death.
LACK OF
GROOMING - Without regular grooming, a pet, especially a
long-haired one, can get massive matting and sores.
MANGE - Mange, caused by tiny parasites, leads to itching, loss of hair and sores
from scratching and biting to relieve the irritation. Mange is easily treated
with medicated baths.
STARVATION -
Starvation is caused not only by lack of food, but
also by improper food, untreated disease and parasites (like worms).
LINK : https://www.americanhumane.org/fact-sheet/animal-abuse/
Signs of Animal Abuse.
·
Dogs that are chained up all day without
food, water and shelter.
·
Untreated wounds.
·
Malnourished animals.
CONCLUSION
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be
judged by the way in which its animals are treated.”
―
―
If we can encourage people, young and
old, to respect this world and all its wonderful natural resources - then we
might have the opportunity of saving at least some of the endangered species
and wild places for the benefit of those who follow us.
If we are to achieve a greater degree
of conservation in the future we will achieve it as a result of common sense
and understanding shown by young people.
In all these cases there are two
sides to the story. If we are going to be good, sensible conservationists, we
must be ready to understand those opposing viewpoints even if we do disagree
with one side or the other.
OVERVIEW
/ REFERENCES
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