Animal Rights and Society

Gandhi once said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Every year animals are severely neglected by owners. A law needs to be made to protect the rights of our four legged friends. The cases of animal abuse in America have grown rapidly, animal testing is included People are less likely to commit a crime if the punishment is harsh. People who abuse animals grow up to mentally and physically abuse human beings. They grow up apathetic to the well beings of living creatures. Many of today’s idols have joined organizations to shine light on this disturbing topic.

Cases

Football god Michael Vick was arrested for conspiring to run a dog fighting ring. He had fifty pit bulls on his property and they were forced to become fighters. The few dogs that didn’t fight were beaten severely into submission or were tortured and killed. The dogs were sick and very malnourished. Michael Vick was ordered to pay 1 million dollars to pay for the life long care of the surviving dogs. He is spending almost two years in prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. It truly shows that he has very little respect for the innocence and unconditional love these creatures bring. Another case was in Hillsborough County were dogs were beaten with chains, pigs were stabbed and mutilated, and cattle were dragged to death. These animals go through a lot and become aggressive or have severe problems through life.

Statistics of Abuse

These graphs show statistics of animal abuse and how much it has grown. There are more cases of neglect than anything. In cases of neglect, dogs are tied up outside with no food and/or water; though this may seem like nothing, it causes the animal to be malnourished. In this year alone, the most cases of abused animals in the sunny state in Florida are an astounding 151.

Science

Among the vast pop-ups of new skin cleansers, medication, and cures for diseases; so is the rise of animal testing. The numbers are up to an all time high of 50 to 100 million vertebrate species. Many people do not know the terrible things these animals go through. Mice are the most commonly used in experiments due to their size, low cost, ease of handling, and fast reproduction rate. Mice share 99% of genes with humans, so they are considered to be the best model of inherited human diseases.

Goals

The stop of animal testing will get results faster and are far less expensive. Many alternatives include:

• An embryonic stem cell test, using mouse-derived cells to assess potential toxicity to developing embryos, has been validated as a partial replacement for birth-defect testing in rats and rabbits.
• The 3T3 Neutral Red Uptake Photo toxicity Test, which uses cells grown in culture to assess the potential for sunlight-induced irritation to the skin. 

  Human skin model tests such as the validated EpiDerm test, which has been accepted almost universally as a total replacement for skin corrosion studies in rabbits.

• The use of human skin leftover from surgical procedures or donated cadavers can be used to measure the rate at which a chemical is able to penetrate the skin.
• The use of a clinical patch test in human volunteers, which can confirm that a chemical will not cause irritation or allergic skin reactions.

Organizations

Many organizations are formed to get the attention of the public about how serious abuse is. PETA is known globally, and Toronto’s Ark-ii is on the rise. Many well known actors, actresses, musicians, and known peace makers are entwined in being active. Alicia Silverstone, Pamela Anderson, Andre 3000 and spiritual leader Gandhi are living lifestyles and being active to help protect animals.

Law

• To improve the laws of animal rights.
• Stop animal testing and use alternatives.
• Show the public how you can become active and stop abuse.

The immediate stop of abuse can improve the economy in more ways than you think. Morally, it’s not right and many people are joining together. Economically, the stop of animal testing produces vaccinations faster and will cost a lot less. By getting together today, we can brighten the days of tomorrow.