Reflection Essay on Animal Cruelty

(SLIDE 1) What would you do if you saw someone hurting an animal? Most of you probably would not know what you should REALLY do. Good morning (afternoon) to Cik Nurul, and fellow friends. Today, we will be talking to you about animal abuse and cruelty. I’m Darshini Preet; and before I go further, I would like you people to know that this presentation is mainly to educate the public and particularly young people, like you, to a sense of moral responsibility towards animals. Okay, I shall begin by uncovering the “Part One” horror of cruelty against animals. SLIDE 2) Cruelty or abuse against animals is the infliction of suffering upon animals, other than humans, for purposes other than self-defence. More narrowly, it can be harm for specific gain, such as killing animals for food or for their fur. (SLIDE 3) Specifically, I will discuss cats and dogs being abused, because they are the most abused domestic animals. Domestic means that these are types of animals you can have in your home. Who in their right mind would abuse a poor defenceless cat or dog?
Unfortunately, people of all ages abuse animals. This includes senior citizens, adults, teenagers and even children. Sadly, most animal abusers and killers are teenagers. (SLIDE 4) Researchers say that violence against animals often represents displaced hostility and aggression stemming from neglect or abuse by some other family member. What that means is that if a child is abused, they are more likely to be an abuser of animals. (SLIDE 5) Serious or repeated animal cruelty is seen more often in boys than girls.
Associated characteristics of a child who abuses animals may include those who do poorly in school, have low self-esteem, few friends, and are bullies who may also be known for skipping school, damaging other peoples’ property and have other bad behaviours. Adults who abuse animals may have grown up in an abusive home. Sometimes, during a divorce, one adult may take out their anger on their dog or cat, to get back at the other person. Others do it for no reason. Sadly, teenagers abuse animals for fun, even though there certainly is nothing funny about what they have done.

It is the exact opposite – stupidity, irrational and wrong! That’s all from me. Thank you. Now, my friend, ___________________, will continue into the next part of the horror. (SLIDE 6) Abused cats have been beaten and even killed by their owners. One cat was burned to death by teenagers. During my research, I read of two teens that killed a total of seventeen cats. One cat was put in a microwave and was killed. Another man killed his cat by hitting it with a rake. If this doesn’t make you feel sick, I don’t know what else would. (SLIDE 7) Dogs have been abused as well.
Five puppies were thrown down into an outhouse hole. Luckily, someone walking by heard their pitiful whining and they were all rescued. One man killed his mother’s dog with a hammer. Another dog was neglected and abused so badly that you could see every rib on the dog. (SLIDE 8) There are agencies and people who help to rescue animals that have been abused or abandoned. These include the SPCA, which is the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (SLIDE 9) Through researches, and articles, we found out that SPCA rescued 2669 cats in 2007.
Unfortunately, in 1700 cats were put down because they were either too ill, too injured, or no one would adopt them. (SLIDE 10) The abuse and exploitation of non-human animals is pervasive throughout our society. According to the Department of Agriculture Malaysia, over 3 billion are butchered for human consumption every year, roughly 1million are suffered in laboratories, and another 5thousand are killed for their fur in Malaysia alone. (SLIDE 11) Life on Old MacDonald’s farm isn’t what it used to be. The cute scenes are now replaced with windowless sheds with cramped wire cages so small and tacked together is enough to drive you insane, and the conditions these animals have to go through are accepted when you are eating them, but if anything like that happened to your dog or cat you’d be thrown in jail for animal cruelty; and that of course would only happen in the USA. (SLIDE 12) Chickens and turkeys raised for meat are raised in crowded, disgusting cages until they are to die. They are bred to become so big so fast that they can hardly move due to painful bone conditions. Many just drop dead from the strain on their underdeveloped hearts.
Egg-laying hens are packed into wire cages that are so small to the point that they can’t even lift their wings. Their feet never touch the ground, unless they have been dropped off of the conveyor belt right before meeting their death. They never get to peck for food or be happy. Instead they are forced to live in wire cages in a cold, frustrated shed. Frustrated hens will peck at their cage mates, so in order for them to prevent them from killing one another, farmers use hot blades to slice off their beaks, and sometimes parts of their tongues and even faces get cut off too! SLIDE 13) For every egg-laying hen confined in a cage, there’s a male chick that was killed at the hatchery. Since egg-laying breeds have been exclusively selected for maximum production, they don’t grow large enough to be raised for profitable meat. Therefore, male chicks of egg-laying breeds are of no value. When they hatch, male chicks are thrown into a dumpster to starve, or they are ground up alive. (SLIDE 14) Cattle that are being used for your steak and hamburgers are branded, their horns cut off, and are castrated; all without painkillers. Painful thought, isn’t it?
Why would proper veterinary care be given, when they are just going to die anyways? Lameness doesn’t affect the meat. (SLIDE 15) Dairy cows get electric machines hooked up to their swollen udders around three times a day! Male claves are shipped off to veal farms after they are born, where they live their lives on short chains is putrid stalls where they can’t turn around. They’re kept in isolation and fed nutrient-deficient foods so that their flesh will be tender and pale when they are served as “gourmet” dishes. (SLIDE 16) Factory farm pigs spend their lives in crowded pens with concrete floors.
Like birds, the pigs are drugged and bred to grow so large so fast, many can’t walk. Baby boys are too castrated, and all piglets’ tails and teeth are removed so they can’t bite each other while they are being raised to die. Honestly, I don’t want to go into detail how these animals get killed, because it is extremely disturbing, but it is an extreme cause for concern on the subject of animal cruelty. These animals are tortured and slaughtered most that are still conscious. Would you want to look down at your cheeseburger or chicken nuggets knowing that they were tortured and butchered all while being conscious?
Could you still enjoy that food? (SLIDE 17) Every year millions of animals are blinded, shocked, poisoned, mutilated, and even killed in laboratories across the world. Dogs, cats, mice, rats, and primates are all victims of horrific experiments that eventually cost them their lives. Every year, millions of animals suffer and die in painful tests to determine the “safety” of cosmetics and household products. Substances ranging from eye shadow to furniture polish are tested on rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, dogs, and several other animals, despite the fact that the test results do not help prevent or treat human illness or injury. SLIDE 18) Fur is seen as a luxury amongst the wealthy. Most people don’t know the lengths taken to trap and skin these gorgeous creatures for an impractical coat such as the ones you see at designer stores. Fur trapping is a barbaric activity done to supply people with a fur coat. The suffering is multiplied when one considers that an average of 40 animals must be killed to make one fur coat. (SLIDE 19) Is it worth your hamburgers, chicken nuggets, eye shadow, and frivolous fur coats to know that billions of animals are being killed every year for them?
So when you go home today, I hope you will think about what we have told you, and the least you can give to your pet is an extra pat or hug to show them how much you love them. (SLIDE 20) Hopefully, from today, all of us will instill some sense of humanitarianism in your hearts, towards these innocent creations of GOD… Thank you. – My time ends here. I’ll pass this on to____________________. Thank you. – Okay, I’m done for now. Thanks for listening. I’d like to call upon ______________________ to reveal another ridiculously, despicable inflict acted upon animals these days. Alright, I shall let ________________________ to take over the rest of the presentation. Thank you for your time. Now, we would like to play 2 of our selected video clips related to our topic- Animal Cruelty. By the way, here’s a WARNING – the second video contains graphic images that you viewers may find very disturbing. We hope you guys can watch it; or else, please turn away and plug both of your ears tight! We show these videos with the sole intention of raising awareness of how animals are treated in certain parts of the world. Thank you for your attention.